History
of the University
Universidad
Tecnica Federico Santa Maria (UTFSM) owes its origin to the
idea of the visionary businessman Federico Santa Maria, a native
of Valparaiso, Chile, to legate to his hometown an institution
of higher education that would transform teaching of science
and technology in Chile.
Today this mission is not only carried out in Valparaiso, where
we find the Main Campus of the institution, but also in branches
in Viña del Mar and Talcahuano, in campuses in Santiago, Rancagua
and Guayaquil (Ecuador), and in Academia de Ciencias Aeronauticas
(Academy of Aeronautic Sciences, ACA), in Santiago, all of which
make UTFSM the university with the biggest territorial coverage
in Chile.
The institution, dedicated to teaching and research of the highest
level in science and technology, offers more than 50 undergraduate
programs in natural sciences, engineering, management, aeronautics,
construction and architecture. It also offers 16 graduate programs,
and different post-degree programs, which stand out for their
excellence and the participation of foreign teachers and students.
This international trait is characteristic of the university
and appears in different aspects of its activities, as in the
strong and growing faculty and student exchange programs with
foreign institutions. The commitment with the growth of the
country and enterprise is also notorious, through projects,
technical assistance and centers of research, as the ones created
in the fields of aeronautics, small and medium sized enterprises,
manufacturing industry, biotechnology and information technologies.
The mission of the university is to contribute through teaching,
research and technical assistance to the creation of new knowledge,
to its communication and universal spreading, and to the human,
scientific and professional formation of its students in a frame
of excellence and respect so that they, using the knowledge
in different areas and the high standards received, become able
to contribute to the development and improvement of humanity.
The institution has a national and international coverage and
following the last will of its founder, Federico Santa Maria,
searches academic excellence and supports those who lack the
financial means but have the intellectual capacity to attain
the highest levels of human knowledge.
The scientific and technological research is one of the main
and permanent interests of the institution. UTFSM makes research
projects in many fields, such as mining, energy, environment,
food engineering, economy, chemistry of natural products, chemical
and sanitary engineering, energy processes and the renewable
energies, electronics applied to medicine, theoretical physics,
physics of condensed matter and ultraviolet radiation, applied
physics, telecommunications and nets engineering, technology
of materials, seism resistant structures, management of productive
systems, development of software, development and quality of
products. Centro de Biotecnologia "Dr. Daniel Alkalay Lowitt"
www.biotec.utfsm.cl Centro de Biotecnologia "Dr. Daniel Alkalay
Lowitt" (Center of Biotechnology) has the most modern equipment
in 500 square meters and have been implemented the techniques
of molecular biology able to face the most complex researches.
The center is looking forward to becoming, with the Ph.D. in
Biotechnology that the institution offers in association with
Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso, in a pillar of biotechnological
development in Chile.
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