Central Campus, Guatemala City

Founded in 1966, UVG is Guatemala’s number 1 university in terms of science, technology, and education and its emphasis on innovation. 

UVG grants Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Arts, Licenciatura and Master’s Degrees. The most popular departments are Engineering and Education, representing 80 percent of students; Social Science, Science and Humanities are also offered–together there are more than fifty academic programs. Women make up 54 percent of students at UVG’s Central Campus.

In February 2020, UVG inaugurated a new Center for Innovation and Technology, which features state of the art makerspaces, a library, collaborative learning environments, science labs, and more.

The Central Campus is home to the Research Institute, recognized internationally for its expertise in tropical diseases research, food science research, and other areas critical to Guatemalan development. Between its ten research centers and several specialized laboratories, there are currently dozens of active projects. Each year it participates in exciting new research with such partners as the Center for Disease Control (CDC), Johns Hopkins University, Yale University, and Liverpool University, among many others.

Currently there are 4,486 students enrolled at the Central Campus.

Right next door to UVG is the Colegio Americano de Guatemala (CAG), which was founded in 1945 and today enrolls more than 1,600 students, preschool through 12th grade. Fully accredited in the US, it offers a rigorous, bilingual college preparatory program. The high school is home to the Young Scholars Academy, a scholarship program that attracts high-potential students in Guatemala who could not access a CAG education without financial assistance.

A gift of $9,062 can fund a full-year scholarship for an undergraduate student at the Central Campus.

A gift of $2,218 can fund a full-year scholarship for an Education undergraduate student at the Central Campus.

Altiplano Campus, Sololá

UVGs Altiplano Campus is located in the central highlands of one of Guatemala’s poorest provinces, Sololá, by Lake Atitlan. 

 

This campus serves five provinces: Sacatepéquez, Quetzaltenango, Chimaltenango, Quiché, and Sololá, where six linguistic-ethnic groups reside: Tzutujil, Quiché, Cakchiquel, Ixil, Mam, and Ladino (Spanish speakers). A former military base, the Altiplano campus was leased to UVG in 1999 after its decommissioning, following the peace accords signed in 1996. In the last twenty years, the campus has undergone a remarkable transformation and today educates the local, historically disadvantaged Maya people, offering programs in education, agro-forestry, engineering, tourism, and more. Almost half of students are female.

The campus’s Instituto Tecnológico (ITEC) provides students with the last two years of high school and two years of post-secondary training, similar to a US community college. The ITEC programs are the only schools of their type in Guatemala.

In Guatemala, the majority of public elementary school teachers do not have any post-secondary education. UVG Altiplano offers working teachers a teacher-training curriculum; it’s the only bilingual Mayan/Spanish elementary education program in Central America. Participants devote their Saturdays to study, sometimes walking two hours to get to a highway and then traveling three hours on a bus to campus. They can specialize in various teaching methods: Bilingual Intercultural Education and Math and Computer Science Education are just two available options.

In addition, outreach programs are provided to people in the surrounding communities, including weekend English language courses for high schoolers, best-practice agriculture for farmers, and leadership training for community leaders.

Currently there are 876 students enrolled at the Altiplano Campus.

A gift of $5,437 can fund a full-year scholarship for an undergraduate student at the Altiplano campus.

A gift of $2,395 can fund a full-year scholarship for an Education undergraduate student at the Altiplano campus.

A gift of $3,371 can fund a full-year scholarship for a Technical undergraduate student at the Altiplano campus.

A gift of $2,028 can fund a full-year scholarship for an ITEC (last two years of high school) student at the Altiplano campus.

South Campus, near Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa

Serving four provinces: Escuintla, Retalhuleu, Santa Rosa, and Suchitipéquez

UVG’s South Campus is located near Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa in the province of Escuintla, on the country’s Pacific Coast, where the population is mainly Ladino (Spanish-speaking). The campus offers programs in agriculture, business, education, industrial technologies, information systems, and more.

Students can also attend the Instituto Tecnológico (ITEC) here, which offers the last two years of high school and two years of post-secondary training, similar to a US community college. It combines a strong academic program with applied learning in the areas of agriculture, industrial electronics, mechanical electronics, and industrial maintenance – education that will provide students with valuable skills for the workplace.

In addition, this campus offers an intensive in-service teachers program through the Department of Education at UVG, in partnership with Fundazucar, the sugar industry foundation. It has trained over 4,000 school teachers.

Currently there are 1,171 students enrolled at the South Campus.

Elementary and secondary school students from all over the South Coast attend the Colegio Americano Sur South Campus (CAS), established in 1995. Fully accredited, it offers a bilingual program preschool-12th grade.

A gift of $5,678 can fund a full-year scholarship for an undergraduate student at the South Campus.

A gift of $2,433 can fund a full-year scholarship for an Education undergraduate student at the South Campus.

A gift of $3,409 can fund a full-year scholarship for a Technical undergraduate student at the South Campus.

A gift of $2,573 can fund a full-year scholarship for a student in high school programs (last two years of high school) at the South Campus.