Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, or La Javeriana called by its students, is a private university with many different faculties. It’s also one of the oldest, most traditional and prestigious universities in Colombia, founded back in 1623. It’s no surprise that many of the country’s ‘elite’ have been educated here and that Pontificia Universidad Javeriana has received a lot of recognition for their outstanding academic research. With campuses in Bogotá and Cali, studying at La Javeriana is a great opportunity to experience the Colombian culture and explore the country.

La Javeriana’s recognition

Where to start? There are only twelve universities in Colombia accredited for its high quality institution, La Javeriana is one of them. The university has 21 undergraduate programs with high quality accreditation and additional eight being in an advanced stage of the accreditation process. In graduate programs, 87 program are acknowledged through the Qualified Registries and 29 are in process. Additionally, La Javeriana is ranked number one among the private universities in Colombia for having the largest number of refereed journals. It has proven to be a research based university that resonates well with most of the European education, and well worth the travel. On the world ranking of universities La Javeriana is between #461 and #470, while being #20 on the list of top Latin American universities.

Campuses of La Javeriana

La Javeriana University is situated in two locations; the main campus in the capital Bogotá and a smaller campus in Cali.

In Bogotá are the vast majority of students and courses given. Over 188 different academic programs are given spread out over the 18 departments. The other campus in Cali is located in the South West of Colombia and provides over 7,000 students with high quality classes in Engineering, Economic and Administrative Sciences and Humanities and Social Sciences.

Facilities of La Javeriana

The main campus in Bogotá covers an area of 1.8m2 for 45 buildings. These include 26 academic buildings, two libraries, radio station, television studio, 3 hospitals, banks, 10 cafeterias, 3 auditoriums, indoor arena, football field, and 74.000 square meters of gardens. It’s a campus you have never experienced before. It’s huge, provides all the facilities you need, and it’s even fun to be there. Instead of only studying and thinking about exams, it’s a lifestyle for many and often students just hang around on campus to relax.

To enhance the learning experience, La Javeriana University offers the first Communication and Information Technological Resource Center in Latin America. It improves the development of education, sound, image and design.

Student life in Bogotá

The studying atmosphere at Javeriana is perfect. The courses and lectures are given in small groups of students, new study equipment is provided and the Sports Center and Library create a complete and satisfying service for students. Many are drawn to the lifely city and the high quality private university.

Bogotá is a city with almost nine million people and yet feels like consisting of many small neighborhoods with a clear sense of community. Bogota differentiates itself with a low cost of living and a high rating in housing, tolerance and outdoors. A lunch would only cost you around 4 EUR, a movie ticket 4 EUR and a beer 1.30 EUR. The average temperature is around 20 degrees all year round so that’s always a good reason to get a cheap beer in the sun after a full day at La Javeriana University. Doesn’t that sound great!

Colombians are known for being very friendly and that’s absolutely true. They are incredibly generous and open people that will easily invite you to spend time with their families, and family is important to them. Their English level is not near sufficient, but this provides you with a great opportunity to speak Spanish. The Colombian government has made it a priority for people to learn a foreign language and many companies require employees to take English classes.