Central American University

"UCA" redirects here. For other uses of the name UCA, see UCA (disambiguation).

"José Simeón Cañas" Central American University^[1] (Spanish: Universidad Centroamericana "José Simeón Cañas"), also known as UCA El Salvador, is a private university with nonprofit purposes in San Salvador, El Salvador, run by the Society of Jesus. It was founded on September 15, 1965, at the request of a group of Roman Catholic families who appealed to the Salvadoran government and the Society of Jesus in order to create another university as an alternative to the University of El Salvador, becoming the first private institution of higher education in the country.

History

UCA has since evolved to be one of the best institutions of higher learning in Central America (Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama).^[2] This is the case, despite the university's focus on playing a decisive role in the transformation of the unjust Salvadoran society.^[3] Such a focus within the Salvadoran context has driven the university to give priority to undergraduate degrees, research within the social sciences, popular presentation of research results ("proyección social") and local peer-reviewed journals. All of these are elements which formally reduce the university's impact in international rankings. In the 1970s and 1980s during the Civil War in El Salvador, UCA was known as the home of several internationally recognized Jesuit scholars and intellectuals, including Jon Sobrino, Ignacio Ellacuría, Ignacio Martín-Baró, and Segundo Montes. They were outspoken against the abuses of the Salvadoran military and government, and carried out research to demonstrate the effects of the war and poverty in the country. The extreme social conditions in El Salvador provided a very rich empirical basis for innovative research within sociology, social anthropology, philosophy, social psychology and theology. These scholars made important and lasting contributions within these fields. Ellacuría, Martín-Baró and Segundo Montes, along with three other Jesuit professors, their housekeeper and her daughter, were murdered by the Salvadoran Armed forces on November 16, 1989 in one of the most notorious episodes from the Civil War (see The murdered scholars of UCA).

Campus

The university is located at Antiguo Cuscatlán. The university campus has 38 acres (16 ha) with 33 buildings, a professional soccer field, basketball and volleyball courts, as well as three auditoriums and four cafeterias. The campus also includes a minimarket, a museum, three clinics, a book shop, a main library, several smaller thematic libraries and a documentation center.

Faculties

• Faculty of Economics and Business Sciences
• Faculty of Human and Social Sciences
• Faculty of Engineering and Architecture

Academic departments

Social projection

• UCA Audiovisuals
• YSUCA 91.7 FM Radio
• Monseñor Romero Center
• University's Public Opinion Institute - IUDOP
• University's Human Rights Institute - IDHUCA

Academics

Undergraduate programs

Postgraduate programs

See also

• Education in El Salvador
• List of universities in El Salvador

References

External links

• Official website (Spanish)
  • English information (New page)
  • English information (Old page)

Coordinates: 13°40′56″N 89°14′12″W / 13.68222°N 89.23667°W / 13.68222; -89.23667