Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG)

Mission

To develop agents of change that impact society, through educational and research experiences, focused on Science and Technology.

Vision

To deliver resourceful and committed people to Guatemala and to the world.

Strategic Plan 2021-2025

Universidad del Valle de Guatemala's 2021-2025 Institutional Strategic Plan represents an extension of the 2016-2020 Plan, which will allow to solidify issues that have been developed, as well as to incorporate strategic areas that the University decided to consider during this period.  It is the result of a collaborative reflection exercise with the fundamental purpose that the actions that are adopted, generate greater value and impact.

The strategic plan is a tool that guides our institutional management. It constitutes the document in which the strategic direction is specified, providing a focus for its goals and the definition of the strategic initiatives for institutional action to be developed in the following five-year period. It is a kind of "navigation chart" that prioritizes strategic objectives, guides decision-making, promotes efficiency and effectiveness, and provides a framework for the institution to comply with its Vision, Mission, and institutional values, while responding constructively to demand and growing competition. The achievement of the objectives and the execution of the associated projects is a joint responsibility of all UVG collaborators.

The University has been experiencing changes both in the demands of its target population, as well as in the delivery modalities related to the special situation experienced in 2020, so this Plan responds to an adaptation to new trends and environmental challenges, and it becomes the main guiding tool for institutional management for the period 2021-2025.

This Plan defines the strategic guidelines to be followed by our community, in order to fulfill our institutional vision and mission.

Greater dynamism and innovation have been incorporated into this Plan, in accordance with technological advances and the new demands of the academic context and national reality, making it necessary for all academic, administrative and research units to work under these guidelines to advance in the integral formation of our students - the main reason of our daily effort.

The projection is that, in the next five years, we will strengthen our work in search of greater efficiency and synergy within the University, also seeking our economic and environmental sustainability in the medium and long terms.

Campus

UVG  started in Guatemala City with Central Campus in 1966. In 1995, opened a second campus, the South Campus, located in Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa, in Escuintla. This campus serves the South part of Guatemala. This campus offers programs in agriculture, business, education, technology engineering, information technologies. 

Later, in 2000, Campus Altiplano started in Sololá. Originally was a military base that was closed due to 1996 Guatemala's Peace Accords. This campus serves the Highland region, that includes different ethnic groups. In the last twenty years, the campus has undergone a remarkable transformation and today educates the local, historically disadvantaged Maya people, offering programs in education, agroforestry, technology engineering, information technologies, tourism.

 CubeSat Quetzal-1, the first Guatemalan satellite

CubeSat Quetzal-1  started its construction in 2014 by approximately 100 Guatemalan undergraduate students, investigators, and teachers. On April 28, 2020, Quetzal-1, named after Guatemala´s National Bird, was deployed into space from the International Space Station at 09:20 hours (GMT-6). About 40 minutes after its ejection, its signal was received for the first time on Earth by a station in Oregon, U.S. At 12:10, the same day, Universidad del Valle de Guatemala’s station received and decoded its beacon for the first time. 

The Project was selected by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) for the second round of the UNOOSA-JAXA KiboCUBE program. 

High Council for Evaluation of Research and Higher Education (Hcéres) accreditation

In 2020,   UVG received the High Council for Evaluation of Research and Higher Education   (Hcéres, by its French acronym) institutional accreditation and became the first Guatemalan university to receive it in Guatemala. This institutional accreditation endorses us as an institution that meets the same standards as a European university and recognizes our track record, impact, and academic quality.

We voluntary seek an external evaluation such as accreditation because is key in our continuous improvement in order to prepare our students to respond to the challenges in dynamic and changing environments. We recognize than UVG is graduating professionals not only for the country, but also to the world.

This is going to have an impact in many aspects like have a global education vision, permit us to increase mobility opportunities for students, professors and researchers.

UVG COVID REPONSE

At UVG we maintain our commitment to provide you with a safe space, through hygiene and biosafety protocols. We design and apply biosafety protocols for community care. We create the conditions for a quiet and safe return, and we promote prevention and monitoring in the community to create a safe space on our 3 campuses. We take care of ourselves to take care of others!