EAFIT University

Universidad EAFIT
Escuela de Administración y Finanzas e Instituto Tecnológico
Motto	Abierta al mundo (Spanish)
Motto in English	Open to the World
Established	1960
Type	Private
Principal	Juan Luis Mejía Arango
Students	11,970
Undergraduates	9,135
Location	Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia 6°11′59.04″N 75°34′43.27″W / 6.1997333°N 75.5786861°W / 6.1997333; -75.5786861Coordinates: 6°11′59.04″N 75°34′43.27″W / 6.1997333°N 75.5786861°W / 6.1997333; -75.5786861
Campus	Urban
Website	www.eafit.edu.co

Universidad EAFIT^[1] is a private Colombian university located in Medellín. Originally founded by a group of the city's business leaders to establish an academic institution focusing on business administration,^[2] presently the university offers programs in other cities of Colombia (such as Bogotá and Pereira), countries (Guatemala) and has established international partnerships not only with academic institutions abroad, but also with multinationals, such as Hewlett-Packard. The university was key in bringing Hewlett-Packard's^[3] operations to Medellín, and functioned as its local headquarters before HP moved to its own building in the north side of the city.

The university currently offers 21 undergraduate programs and more than 100 graduate programs in the areas of Management, Engineering, Law, Finance and Economics, and Science and Humanities. Universidad EAFIT was approved by the Colombian Ministry of Education on May 6, 1971. It has three branches in Bogotá, Pereira and Rionegro.

History

Universidad EAFIT was founded in 1960 by a group of entrepreneurs in Medellín with the goal to create professionals ready to answer the new challenges in management, finance and technology for the development of Colombia with the compromise of its industrial organization and economic growth. Initially, EAFIT started off as a "School of Management and Finance". Later on, when two-year technological programs were offered, its Institute of Technology part was created. Finally, the institution organized itself as a university, offering longer, five-year programs, thus receiving its current name.

Professor Javier Toro Martínez was the first rector with a group of 59 students in the school of Business Administration. The Textile Technology, Industrial Programming and Mechanic faculties were opened in 1962. In 1996 EAFIT opened its first branch outside of Medellín in Llanogrande, Rionegro with Business Administration, Civil Engineering and Systems Engineering.

Biblioteca Luis Echavarría Villegas: EAFIT library.

The School of Human Science and Humanities was opened in 1997, a peculiarity in the identity of the educational center dedicated to economics. The new frontiers were beyond that with the creation of the School of Music. In 1999 the Product Design Engineering and Law faculties were created. In 2002 the Mathematics Engineering undergraduate program was created, being the first its kind in Colombia. In 2004 there were three new faculties: Engineering Physics, Social Communication and Political Science. That same year the administration took the decision to call the campus "Park University" (Universidad Parque) setting an ecological backgroung which includes a lake, a wood and a parking area avoiding cement to "let the earth breathe". The idea of Principal Dr. Juan Luis Mejía was to integrate the university with the urban body of the city with a compromise for its environment. This project later received the Premio Lápiz de Acero (Steel Pen Award) from the Proyecto diseño magazine of Medellín in the "Public Spaces" category.^{[citation needed]}

In 2011, Psychology and Marketing undergraduate programs were created. In next years, programs of Biology and Sound Engineering will open.

Academics

Biblioteca Luis Echavarría Villegas from inside.

Building 38, housing the School of Science and Humanities.

Universidad EAFIT offers 21 undergraduate programs, which are dividided in 5 schools.

School of Science and Humanities

• Music
• Biology
• Engineering mathematics
• Engineering Physics
• Communication Studies
• Political Science

School of Management

• Business Administration
• International Business
• Public Accounting
• Marketing
• Psychology

School of Engineering

• Geology
• Civil Engineering
• Product Design Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering
• Process Engineering
• Production Engineering
• Computer Science

School of Law

• Law

School of Economics and Finance

• Economics
• Finances

References

External links

• Official site (Spanish)