... Universities ...
by Infocostarica Staff

Costa Ricans are extremely proud of their education level, and they strongly believe that the key to a good life is schooling and continued training. The government of this small Central American country has always placed a large amount of its budget in primary, high school and higher level education. A lot of its presidents, instead of being harsh dictators or military men, have been educators who have always encouraged the educational improvement of the Ticos.

The first university in Costa Rica was called "Universidad de Santo Tomas", located in San Jose. This institution as the "Casa de Ensenanza de Santo Tomas" since 1814, but it didn't become a full-fledged university until 1843. This university taught subjects such as Cosmography, History, Experimental Physics, Ethics, Mathematics, Latin and Law. The renown Law School was the only department that survived when the whole university was shut down in 1888. The closure of this superior education center was due to the idea of establishing a more technological and "practical" institution; this proved to be a bad move, since another university wasn't inaugurated until 1940.

Rafael Calderon Guardia was president of Costa Rica from 1940-1944, and he initiated a series of socialist reforms that included the establishment of the following institutions or services: Social Medicine Service, Labor Code (minimum wage, working hours,etc.) and the public University of Costa Rica. The founding of the University of Costa Rica was and still is of extreme importance, since until then, middle-class or poor people couldn't afford to send their children to foreign universities, like the upper class. Therefore, they were limited to a high school degree and in the best of cases, to studying Law in the University of Santo Tomas. The University of Costa Rica transformed the country completely, since it created prominent people that would later become some of the country's best doctors, lawyers, engineers, educators, scientists and artists. Before this point, public and obligatory education for all had been limited to the primary and high school levels.

Today there are four public universities. The University of Costa Rica is the largest one, with a population of 35,000 students and numerous undergraduate and graduate programs. The second largest public university is the National University in Heredia, with an estimated 13,000 students. The Technological Institute in Cartago is dedicated mostly to the teaching of scientific and technological careers. Finally, there's the State Correspondence University, which is designed after a British Open University, and has had great success especially for people who live in rural areas. These public universities have large facilities and some, like the University of Costa Rica, has a large and very nice campus. Even though the fee is small to moderate, these institutions still offer scholarships for students who can't afford even the minimum charge.

Apart from these public universities, there are several private ones that have multiplied immensely in the past ten years. These institutions offer shorter careers, since most of them don't require the liberal arts courses that are obligatory in public universities. Since they are private, the charge per unit or per class is much more expensive than in public universities, but many students that can afford them prefer to attend these universities because they're interested in a more focused education. Most of these private universities are located in San Jose or very close by, since this is where most of the wealth and population lie. Some of the main ones are: Universidad Latina, Universidad Autonoma de Centro America, Universidad Interamericana, and many, many others.

Because of unstable economic and political situations, many Latin American students have come to Costa Rican universities because they offer an excellent education in a stable environment. Professors are usually highly trained and educated individuals who hold many Master or P.H.D. degrees from institutions in Costa Rica, the United States or Europe. Many foreign students who have come to learn Spanish, later decide to stay in a Costa Rican university for a semester or for the duration of a whole career, since they realize the high level of education in Tico universities. Even though Costa Rica doesn't offer very specific careers, it does present the standard ones, highly trained professionals, and all in a country that is attractive not only because of its nature, but also because of social activities that will provide entertainment during those few, but blissful hours away from the books.