Universidad de La Serena

University of La Serena is a regional University of the State of Chile that consolidated his academic work, aspires to play a leading role in the development of the Region of Coquimbo and the country, and to be recognized in the higher education system by the quality of its activities in the field of teaching, research and connectedness.

The university was formed in 1981 via the fusion of two regional campuses of the nationwide state universities Universidad de Chile and Universidad Técnica del Estado. It was founded as an extension of the mining education imparted in the region since the nineteenth century. Its objectives have been to create, promote and divulge the region's scientific, technological, cultural and artistical advancements.

University of La Serena consists of a Main Building and 6 campuses located in La Serena, Coquimbo and Ovalle. Ignacio Domeyko arrived from Poland in the 3rd of June 1838 to educate miners, having been hired by the Chilean Government as the Coquimbo Department's Institute of Chemistry and Mineralogy's professor. The institution is committed to the Region of Coquimbo, which focuses its work in the areas of science, technology, humanities and social sciences.