University of Puerto Rico

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the University of the Puerto Rico System. For the system's flagship constituent university, see University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus.
University of Puerto Rico
Upr logo.jpg
Seal of the University of Puerto Rico
Latin: Universitas Portoricensis
Former names
Escuela Normal (Normal school)
TypePublic
Established1903; 118 years ago (1903)
Academic affiliations
Sea-grant, Space-grant
Budget$1.52 billion (2014)[a]
President (Interim)
Academic staff
5,300[2]
Administrative staff
14,177[2]
Students57,726
Location
San Juan
,
Puerto Rico
Campus11 campuses
Websitewww.upr.edu
Upr logo 3.gif

The University of Puerto Rico (Spanish: Universidad de Puerto Rico, UPR) is the main public university system in the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a government-owned corporation with 11 campuses and approximately 58,000 students and 5,300 faculty members.[3] UPR has the largest and most diverse academic offerings in the commonwealth, with 472 academic programs of which 32 lead to a doctorate.[4]

History[]

In 1900, at Fajardo, the Escuela Normal Industrial (normal school) was established as the first higher education center in Puerto Rico. Its initial enrollment was 20 students and 5 professors.[5] The following year it was moved to Río Piedras. On March 12, 1903, the legislature authorized founding of the University of Puerto Rico, and that day the "Escuela Normal" was proclaimed as its first department.[6]

Aerial view of the Río Piedras Campus
Portico of the Mayagüez Campus (RUM)
The University of Puerto Rico main tower ( this tower is inspired by the Giralda, the medieval tower of the cathedral of Seville) includes the emblems both of Harvard University—the oldest in the United States—and University of San Marcos—the oldest in Latin America.

1908 - The Morrill-Nelson Act is extended to Puerto Rico, making the University a "Land Grant College," which authorizes use of federal land to establish colleges of agriculture, science and engineering.[7]

1910 - Establishment of the College of Liberal Arts.

1911 - Establishment of the College of Agriculture at Mayagüez. A year later the name was changed to College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts.[6]

1913 - The Departments of Pharmacy and Law were established.

1923 - The University Act of 1923- the University reorganized administratively it independent Insular Department of Education, provides the Board of Trustees as the governing board, and make the position of Rector as the principal officer. In 1924 the governor appointed the first Rector.

1924 - The administrative structure and identity of the University of Puerto Rico becomes independent from the Department of Public Instruction.

1926- The School of Commerce (later School of Business Administration) and the School of Tropical Medicine were established.

1927 - Opening of the first graduate program: the Master of Arts in Hispanic Studies.

1928 - The San Felipe Segundo hurricane struck the island of Puerto Rico and caused serious damage in the Río Piedras campus. Staff and faculty began a reconstruction effort.

1935 - The U.S. Congress extended to Puerto Rico the benefits of Bankhead-Jones Act, which provided funding for research and the construction of more buildings.

1936 - 1939 - Major structures in Spanish Renaissance style are built in the quadrangle in Río Piedras, including buildings such as the Tower Theatre.

1938 - Augusto Rodríguez composed the music and lyrics Arriví Francisco's Alma Mater, the University anthem.

1942 - Act No. 135 of May 7, 1942, amendment to the University, created the Higher Education Council as the governing board of the institution and regulator of the higher education system in Puerto Rico.

1946 - The University received accreditation from the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.

1966 - Act No. 1 of 1966, restructuring the university. The system change to three campuses-Río Piedras, Mayagüez and Medical Sciences.

1967 - Creation of the regional colleges: Arecibo, Cayey and Humacao. Five more were created in the following years: Ponce (1969), Bayamón (1971), Aguadilla (1972), Carolina (1973), and Utuado (1978).

1979 - WRTU-FM began broadcasting from the Río Piedras campus.

1998 - Act No. 186 of August 7, 1998, provides for the gradual autonomy of regional schools as provided by the Board of Trustees, to lead to eleven autonomous units.[7]

2010–2011 University of Puerto Rico strikes where a series of strikes which occurred as a result of administrative budget cuts and an attempt to impose a $800 quota for students.

July 2010, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education placed the accreditation of the University on probation citing concerns about shortfalls in the governance of the institution.[8] By the end of 2011, all 11 campuses had regained full accreditation after demonstrating significant progress in this area.

2017- The UPR's staff organized a strike in opposition to budget cuts proposed by the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico.[9]

After the impact of Hurricane Maria the University suffered damages totaling over $175 million. The University system was still in the process of acquiring FEMA funding to repair damages and as a result still suffered from structural damage months after the hurricane.[10] The hurricane also affected the process of accreditation since eight campuses where in non compliance according to of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.[11] The eleven campuses opened within two months of Hurricane Maria, offering a sense of structure and normalcy for professors and students.[12]

2019- During Jorge Haddock tenure the university newspaper, Diálogo, after 32 years in print, was moved online and employees were laid off until only the editor and an assistant remained. They were reassigned, while the newspaper was moved from the central administration to the Arecibo campus.[13]

2021- In June the Financial Oversight and Management Board cut $94 million from the UPR budget which would have drastically affected the institutions ability to operate.[14] The local government intervened and assigned the money necessary before the August semester commenced.[15]

Organization[]

Board of Trustees[]

The board of trustees is the governing body of the University of Puerto Rico. Its membership usually consists of private citizens who are supposed to represent the public interest, faculty members, student representatives, and may or may not include an exofficio political officeholder (typically the Secretary of Education of Puerto Rico). This inconsistency happens as the board's structure changes whenever a political party gains power, usually every 4–8 years. Once both the governor and the legislature of Puerto Rico belong to the same party, one of the earliest laws amended is the one governing the university in order to change the board's composition. Once the new board is settled in, one of the first acts enacted by the new board is to appoint a new university president. This constant back and forth effectively makes the university highly politicized and, consequently, changes the vision, strategy, and plans of the university every 4–8 years according to the political party in power.

Of the different trustees, the governor is usually required to appoint eight trustees "for the public interest" with the advice and consent of the Senate. It is through these trustees, along with the incumbent political officeholder which serves as exofficio, the way in which the governor and the political party in power effectively control the state university. The faculty and student trustees are appointed by the community of the university system. Two of the "public interest trustees" are appointed to nine-year terms, another two are appointed to seven-year terms, and the remaining four are appointed to five-year terms. The faculty and student trustees serve one-year terms. Trustees "representing the public interest" may be reappointed to additional terms as long as the total time served does not exceed eight years. Trustees representing faculty or students may be reappointed to additional terms as long as they remain being a faculty or student within the system while serving.

On April 30, 2013 governor Alejandro García Padilla enacted Act 13 of 2014 together with the 17th Legislative Assembly. The act effectively replaced the incumbent board with an entirely new board. In 2017 the board was changed once again by governor Ricardo Rosselló.[16]

Campuses[]

Main article: List of University of Puerto Rico campuses
Campus Municipality Enrollment[17]
University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus San Juan 2,657
University of Puerto Rico at Aguadilla Aguadilla 2,973
University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo Arecibo 3,757
University of Puerto Rico at Bayamón Bayamón 5,075
University of Puerto Rico at Carolina Carolina 3,994
University of Puerto Rico at Cayey Cayey 3,817
University of Puerto Rico at Humacao Humacao 3,495
University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez Mayagüez 11,838
University of Puerto Rico at Ponce Ponce 3,120
University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras San Juan 15,441
University of Puerto Rico at Utuado Utuado 1,559

Presidents[]

Campus radio[]

UPR broadcasts both in FM (to some areas) and online. The campus radio station is called "WRTU Radio Universidad de Puerto Rico", and it was established in 1980. This is a public radio station with diverse musical and news programming.[18]

Admissions[]

UPR has the highest selectivity index of all colleges and universities in Puerto Rico, it has also maintained a systemwide admission rate of 67% since 1997. Its enrollment rate has surpassed 90% during the past five academic years.[19] In terms of tuition, the cost per credit is US$124 per undergraduate credit and $300 per graduate credit.

Research[]

The university has a classification of "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".[20]

On October 15, 2010 it was awarded over $25 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support research in nanotechnology. The organization within the University of Puerto Rico impacted is called Puerto Rico EPSCoR (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research). Since its creation 24 years ago, Puerto Rico EPSCoR has received over $180 million from NSF, NASA, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Department of Defense.[21]

On August 24, 2020 the University announced ten investigations for preventing and mitigating the spread of Covid19 as part of $1.7 million the institution received from the local government.[22]

Rankings and notable facts[]

University rankings
Global – Overall
QS World[23]801–1000
THE World[24]801-1000
Regional – Overall
QS Latin America[25]40

According to the QS world ranking 2022 published in 2021, the University of Puerto Rico ranks number 40 in Latin America having dropped from 37 in 2020, but still higher than previous rankings of 42 in 2018 and 62 in 2015.[26]

As a system, the University of Puerto Rico placed in the 800-1000 bracket in the 2018 edition of QS World University Rankings.[27] Times Higher Education also ranks it in the 801-1000 bracket in the world.[28] UPR was ranked among the best 20 universities in Latin America by SCImago ranking in 2010.[29] The University of Puerto Rico ranked 18th and University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez ranked 78th by Webometrics in Latin America.[30] The UPR is the number one university in the Caribbean according to Webometrics.[31]

The University of Puerto Rico:

  • Conducts more than 80% of all post-secondary research on the island.
  • Graduates the largest number of Hispanic engineers under the US flag.
  • Graduates the largest number of chemical engineers under the US flag.
  • Graduates the second largest number of female engineers under the US flag.
  • Owns the largest number of patents by a university on the island.
  • Has the largest enrollment on the island and one of the largest under the U.S. flag.
  • Has the largest faculty body on the island and one of the largest in the United States.
  • Offers the largest variety of academic programs on the island.
  • Offers the largest number of doctoral programs on the island.
  • Confers the largest number of post-secondary degrees on the island.
  • Has graduated six out of ten local governors.


The system's only school of engineering at the Mayagüez campus is accredited by ABET and graduates more than 600 engineers per year. The school was chosen as the top engineering school for Hispanics by Hispanic Engineer & Information Technology Magazine.[32]

In 2020 the director of NASA grant consortium in Puerto Rico doctor Gerardo Moller, stated that 25% of the Hispanic employees hired by NASA are graduates of the UPR.[33]

Research activity, measured in terms of external funds received, has grown exponentially since 1985, doubling every five years. In 2007-2008 the UPR received over $87 million for research.[34]

Notable alumni[]

Main article: List of University of Puerto Rico people

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ López (2014; in Spanish) "El presupuesto actual consolidado de la institución es de $1,522 millones."[1]

References[]

  1. ^ López Alicea, Keila (February 27, 2014). "Severos recortes en la UPR". El Nuevo Día. Retrieved February 27, 2014.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Historia UPR Archived 2008-08-28 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "La Universidad Hoy". Hoy.upr.edu. Archived from the original on 2010-01-27. Retrieved 2010-07-29.
  4. ^ [1] Archived June 10, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Historia de la Universidad de Puerto Rico. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-03-16. Retrieved 2009-03-16.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link). 2008-04-30.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b Sojo Ramos, Norma. "Centenario". centenario.uprm.edu (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2006-12-12. Retrieved 2021-08-22.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b "Historia". Universidad de Puerto Rico (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-08-22.
  8. ^ "News Archive". Retrieved 29 May 2015.
  9. ^ VOCERO, Por Perla Rodríguez, Especial para EL. "Es una realidad huelga en UPR" [It's a reality strike in UPR]. El Vocero (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-05-30.
  10. ^ "Más de dos años sin que atiendan el deterioro de la UPR por María" [More than two years without attending to the deterioration of the UPR after María]. Centro de Periodismo Investigativo (in Spanish). 17 December 2019. Retrieved 2020-08-22.
  11. ^ "MSCHE Continues Show Cause Status for 11 UPR Institutions". Middle States Commission on Higher Education. 2019-03-19. Retrieved 2020-08-22.
  12. ^ "How to Help the University of Puerto Rico - and How Not To". The Chronicle of Higher Education. 2017-11-27. Retrieved 2021-05-14.
  13. ^ López-Alicea, Keila (2019-04-15). "Incierto el futuro del periódico digital Diálogo". El Nuevo Día (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2019-04-16. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  14. ^ VOCERO, Christian G. Ramos Segarra, EL. "La Junta Fiscal ordena recorte de $94 millones y aumentos a la matrícula de la UPR". El Vocero de Puerto Rico (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-08-22.
  15. ^ Caraballo, Harry Rodríguez. "UPR agradece asignación de $94 millones para atenuar recortes por cientos de millones de dólares". Metro (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-08-22.
  16. ^ Estudiantil, Pulso. "Ricardo Rosselló hace designaciones a la Junta de Gobierno UPR". Pulso Estudiantil (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-07-12.
  17. ^ http://www2.pr.gov/presupuestos/PresupuestoRecomendado2014-2015/PresupuestosAgencias/176.htm[permanent dead link]
  18. ^ "Radio Universidad de Puerto Rico". Retrieved 29 May 2015.
  19. ^ http://www.gdb-pur.com/investors_resources/presentations/UPR.pdf
  20. ^ "Carnegie Classifications Institution Lookup". carnegieclassifications.iu.edu. Center for Postsecondary Education. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  21. ^ "Home - El Nuevo Día". Elnuevodia.com. Retrieved 2013-02-11.
  22. ^ "UPR realiza 10 investigaciones para detener el Covid-19 | Educación | elvocero.com". www.elvocero.com. Retrieved 2020-08-24.
  23. ^ "QS World University Rankings 2020". Top Universities. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  24. ^ "THE World University Rankings 2020". Times Higher Education University Rankings. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  25. ^ "La UPR se coloca en la posición 40 de las mejores universidades de Latinoamérica". El Nuevo Día (in Spanish). 2021-08-25. Retrieved 2021-08-26.
  26. ^ "La UPR se coloca en la posición 40 de las mejores universidades de Latinoamérica" [The UPR ranked in the position 40 of the best universities of Latin America]. El Nuevo Día (in Spanish). 2021-08-25. Retrieved 2021-08-26.
  27. ^ "Universidad de Puerto Rico". Top Universities. Quacquarelli Symonds Limited. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  28. ^ "QS World University Rankings 2020". Top Universities. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  29. ^ College and university rankings#SCImago institutions rankings: 2009 world report
  30. ^ "Ranking Web of Universities, Latin America". Retrieved 4 May 2021.
  31. ^ "Ranking Web of Universities, Caribbean". Retrieved 4 May 2021.
  32. ^ "Schools". Hispanicengineer.com. Archived from the original on March 28, 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-29.
  33. ^ "El 25% del personal hispano de NASA es egresado de la UPR". Primera Hora. 31 May 2020. Retrieved 2020-08-24.
  34. ^ [2] Archived November 30, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  35. ^ "ACEVEDO-VILÁ, Aníbal - Biographical Information". Retrieved 29 May 2015.
  36. ^ "ROMERO-BARCELÓ, Carlos A. - Biographical Information". Retrieved 29 May 2015.
  37. ^ Biographical information from the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress

External links[]

Coordinates: 18°24′11″N 66°03′02″W / 18.40306°N 66.05056°W / 18.40306; -66.05056

Retrieved from ""