EAFIT University (originally the acronym in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

: Escuela de Administración, Finanzas e Instituto Tecnológico, «School of Administration, Finance and Technological Institute») is a private

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

located in

Medellín Medellín ( ; or ), officially the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (), is the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia Departme ...

offering 23 undergraduate programs, 70 specializations, 34 masters, and six doctoral programs. The university offers degrees in various disciplines through its schools of Management, Engineering, Law, Finance and Economics, Science, and Humanities. Universidad EAFIT was approved by the Colombian Ministry of Education on May 6, 1971. It has three additional branches in

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

, Pereira, and

Rionegro Rionegro () is a city and municipality in Antioquia Department, Colombia, located in the subregion of Eastern Antioquia. The official name of the city is Ciudad Santiago de Arma de Rionegro. Rio Negro means "Black River" in Spanish, as the cit ...

. The university has received the Ministry of National Education's institutional high-quality accreditation twice in a row. This makes it the first Colombian university to earn that recognition. This accreditation is valid through the end of 2026.

Features and Location

EAFIT is approved and recognized by the National Education Ministry, based on act 759 from May 6 of 1971. The university's main campus is located in

El Poblado El Poblado is the 14th commune (Medellín), commune in the Metropolitan Area of Medellín, metropolitan area of the city of Medellín, Colombia. According to a 2005 census the population was 94,704, distributed among its land area of 23 km2, ...

. It has additional campuses in

, Pereira and Llanogrande

(

Antioquia Antioquia is the Spanish form of Antioch. Antioquia may also refer to: * Antioquia Department Antioquia () is one of the 32 departments of Colombia, located in the central northwestern part of Colombia with a narrow section that borders th ...

). It is considered one of the top tier universities in Colombia by QS Rankings and MIDE. Its current principal is Claudia Restrepo.

History

Universidad EAFIT was founded in 1960 by a group of entrepreneurs in Medellín. Its main goal was to educate professionals who would address new challenges in management, finance, and technology. EAFIT started as a "School of Management and Finance." Two-year technological programs were offered when its Institute of Technology division was created. The institution organized itself as a university in 1975, when it started offering five-year programs in engineering. Professor Javier Toro Martínez was the first rector with a group of 59 students in the school of

Business Administration Business administration is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. Overview The administration of a business includes the performance o ...

. The

Textile Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and different types of #Fabric, fabric. ...

Technology Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...

, Industrial Programming and

Mechanic A mechanic is a skilled tradesperson who uses tools to build, maintain, or repair machinery, especially engines. Formerly, the term meant any member of the handicraft trades, but by the early 20th century, it had come to mean one who works w ...

faculties were opened in 1962. In 1996 EAFIT opened its first branch outside of Medellín in Llanogrande, Rionegro, offering degrees in Business Administration, Civil Engineering, and Systems Engineering. Biblioteca-EAFIT

The School of

Social Sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...

and

Humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

was opened in 1997, adding new disciplines to an educational center that had been primarily dedicated to Economics. The subsequent creation of the School of Music increased the number of programs in the Arts and Sciences. The Product Design Engineering and

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

faculties were then created in 1999. This was followed by the creation of the Mathematics Engineering undergraduate program in 2002, the first of its kind in Colombia. Three new departments were added in 2004:

Engineering Physics Engineering physics (EP), sometimes engineering science, is the field of study combining pure science disciplines (such as physics, mathematics, chemistry or biology) and engineering disciplines (computer, nuclear, electrical, aerospace, medic ...

Social Communication Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not only transmit ...

and

Political Science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

. That same year the administration made the decision to rename the campus as "Park University" (''Universidad Parque''), adding ecological grounds that include a large lake, woods, and an unpaved parking area. Dr. Juan Luis Mejía's goal was to integrate the university with the urban background of the city, while at the same time improving and protecting its natural environment. The project was awarded the Premio Lápiz de Acero (Steel Pen Award) from the ''Proyecto Diseño'' magazine of Medellín in the "Public Spaces" category. Recently added disciplines include majors in Psychology and Marketing, both established in 2011. Future offerings include programs in Biology and Sound Engineering.

High Quality of Institutional Accreditation

Since the process of accreditation started in Colombia in 2003, only 15 Colombian universities have earned a high quality accreditation. EAFIT was given its first institutional accreditation for a period of six years in 2003. In March, 2010, that accreditation was renewed for eight years. All of its undergraduate programs are accredited as "high quality." Five of EAFIT's graduate programs earned a high quality accreditation.

Academics

Universidad EAFIT offers 21 undergraduate programs, which are divided in six schools.

School of Management

International Business International business refers to the trade of goods and service goods, services, technology, capital and/or knowledge across national borders and at a global or transnational scale. It includes all commercial activities that promote the transfer o ...

Public Accounting An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certif ...

Marketing Marketing is the act of acquiring, satisfying and retaining customers. It is one of the primary components of Business administration, business management and commerce. Marketing is usually conducted by the seller, typically a retailer or ma ...

School of Applied Sciences and Engineering

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

Engineering Mathematics Mathematical engineering (or engineering mathematics) is a branch of applied mathematics, concerning mathematical methods and techniques that are typically used in engineering and industry. Along with fields like engineering physics and engine ...

Geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

Civil Engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...

Mechanical Engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

Process Engineering Process engineering is a field of study focused on the development and optimization of industrial processes. It consists of the understanding and application of the fundamental principles and laws of nature to allow humans to transform raw mate ...

Production Engineering Manufacturing engineering or production engineering is a branch of professional engineering that shares many common concepts and ideas with other fields of engineering such as mechanical, chemical, electrical, and industrial engineering. Manufac ...

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

* Agronomic Engineering * Urban and Habitat Design

School of Finance, Economics and Government

Economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

Finances Finance refers to monetary resources and to the study and discipline of money, currency, assets and liabilities. As a subject of study, is a field of Business Administration wich study the planning, organizing, leading, and controlling of an o ...

School of Arts and Humanities

Music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

Communication Studies Communication studies (or communication science) is an academic discipline that deals with processes of human communication and behavior, patterns of communication in interpersonal relationships, social interactions and communication in differ ...

Literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

School of Law

Research Centers

Center for Urban and Environmental Studies - urbam EAFIT

The Center for Urban and Environmental Studies, also known as urbam EAFIT, was funded in 2010 by EAFIT's principal of that time, Juan Luis Mejia Arango, in cooperation with other city personalities like Alejandro Echeverri, Jorge Giraldo and Michel Hermelin. From that time, it has turned into a referent in the areas of urban planning, sustainable occupancy and social projection. Besides that, since the opening of the Master's program in Urban and Environmental Processes, urbam also became an academic department of EAFIT. It now manages a Bachelor's degree in Urban and Habitat Design, part of the School of Applied Sciences and Engineering. In the year 2021, urbam's official research group was qualified as top-tier (A1) in the research index of the Ministry of Science.

Affiliated Programs

Among the university's many organizations and clubs is the "100K Strong" initiative, which makes EAFIT the only institution of higher education in Colombia that takes part in this program created by U.S. president Barack Obama100K Strong
/ref> The university also has a summer week-long camp for kids ages 3–1

* National ** Asociación Colombiana de Universidades (ASCUN). ** Colombian International Cooperation Network for University Education. ** Universia College Portal . * International ** Abroad Study program and academic interchange. ** ALFA Program (Latin America – Academic training). ** Latin American and Caribbean University Network of Non-Stop Education. ** 100.000 Strong in the Americas.

References

External links

Official site

International EAFIT
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eafit, Universidad Private universities and colleges in Colombia Universities and colleges in Medellín Universities and colleges established in 1960 1960 establishments in Colombia