| Variations of Name | Universidad de Buenos Aires |
| Biography | The University of Buenos Aires is the largest university in Argentina and the second largest university by enrollment in Latin America. Founded on August 12, 1821 in the city of Buenos Aires, it consists of 13 departments, 6 hospitals, 10 museums and is linked to 4 high schools: Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires, Escuela Superior de Comercio Carlos Pellegrini, Instituto Libre de Segunda Enseñanza and Escuela de Educación Técnica Profesional en Producción Agropecuaria y Agroalimentaria.
Entry to any of the available programmes of study in the university is open to anyone with a secondary school degree; in most cases, students who have successfully completed high school must pass a first year called CBC, which stands for Ciclo Básico Común (Common Basic Cycle). Only upon completion of this first year may the student enter the chosen school; until then, they must attend courses in different buildings, and have up to 3 years to finish the 6 or 7 subjects (which vary depending on the programme of study chosen) assigned in two groups of 3 or 4. Each subject is of one semester duration (MarchJuly or AugustNovember). If someone passes all 6 subjects in their respective semester, the CBC will take only one year. Potential students of economics, instead, take a 2-year common cycle, the "CBG" (General Basic Cycle), comprising 12 subjects.
The UBA has no central campus. A centralized Ciudad Universitaria (literally, "university city") was started in the 1960s, but contains only two schools, with the others at different locations in Buenos Aires.
Access to the university is free of charge for everyone, including foreigners. However, the postgraduate programs charge tuition fees that can be covered with research scholarships for those students with outstanding academic performance.
It is currently the best ranked Argentine university in college and university rankings, present at number 197 of the Top Universities 2008 and at number 151-200 of the 2010 Shanghai Jiao Tong University ranking. It has produced more Nobel Prize laureates (four) than any other Spanish-speaking University. In 2010, according to University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP), University of Buenos Aires is the best university in Argentina and 247th university in the world. And according to TopUniversities rankings, 46th university in the world taking account employer reputation index. |