The University of Panama has been a Member since 1993.
La Universidad de Panamá (The University of Panama or UP) is the first and most important Higher Education Institution in Panama and is listed as one of the best in the region.
It is a state-run university but has broad autonomy (self-government). It was created by President Harmodio Arias Madrid via a Presidential Decree, on May 29, 1935. It was inaugurated on October 7 of that same year and began classes the next day with an enrolment of 175 students in the fields of Education, Commerce, Natural Sciences, Pharmacy, Engineering and Law. Since 1939 and up to December 2024, the UP has graduated more than 330,000 professionals.
The UP currently has an enrolment of nearly 100,000 students and an academic faculty of more than 4,000 professors, distributed among 19 Schools. The national system of the Universidad de Panamá is made up of: Two campuses in the Nation’s capital (Panamá City): the Octavio Méndez Pereira Main Campus and the Harmodio Arias Campus, in the Curundu sector.; Nineteen (19) Academic Schools; Ten (10) Regional University Centres in each of the Panamanian provinces; Five (5) University Extensions; Twenty-seven (27) annexed Special University Programs; Fourteen (14) Research Institutes; more than Fifty (50) Research Centres and Stations.
The UP is well ranked within the World and Latin American QS academic ranking, as well as by other prestigious journal-based scientific indexes such as Alper-Doger, Scimago, Nature Index, among several others.
The UP was a longtime partner within ICSU and joined the ISC since its creation. The UP is a member of important higher education regional and international organizations such as UDUAL, CSUCA, OEI and others.
Its present Rector (University President) is Dr. Eduardo Flores Castro, a physicist with a Doctoral degree from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Spain. Dr. Castro is, also, the current Pro-Tempore President of the National Council of Public Universities. The UP is currently working on the initiative to create (together with other Governmental and Private research and academic institutions) the National Science Academy of Panamá.
Photo by Universidad de Panamá
