Liberia, Costa Rica

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Lore & Background

The University of Costa Rica's Guanacaste Campus is located in the city of Liberia, Guanacaste. This campus includes a local branch in Santa Cruz. The UCR itself was established in 1940, reuniting the schools of law, agronomy, fine arts, and pharmacy that had continued operating independently after the closure of the University of Saint Thomas in 1888. The UCR remained the country's sole university until the Costa Rica Institute of Technology and the National University of Costa Rica opened in 1972 and 1973, respectively. Today, Costa Rica has five public universities and approximately fifty-three small private ones, but the UCR remains the largest and most well funded institution.

Reader's Guide

The Guanacaste Campus of the University of Costa Rica serves the Liberia area. The main campus, Ciudad Universitaria Rodrigo Facio, is located in San Pedro Montes de Oca, in the province of San José. The main campus offers the most diverse course curricula of any other campus, in addition to hosting the Medical School and graduate programs. The UCR is divided into six major academic areas: Agricultural Sciences, Arts and Letters, Basic Sciences, Engineering, Health and Social Sciences. The university manages 42 research institutes. Costa Rican law requires the Costa Rican Congress to request the university's opinion on whether a new law should be approved or not.

Did You Know?

• The University of Costa Rica was originally established as the Universidad de Santo Tomás in 1843.
• The UCR remained the country's sole university until 1972.
• Approximately 45,000 students attend UCR throughout the year.
• The UCR's Guanacaste Campus is located in Liberia and includes a local branch in Santa Cruz.
• The main campus in San Pedro hosts the Medical School and graduate programs.