Universidad de los Andes

About Universidad de los Andes

Universidad de los Andes began in Santiago in 1989 and is legally organized as a private nonprofit foundation. Its statutes define it as an autonomous higher-education institution. The university’s identity is explicitly Catholic: its institutional project draws on Catholic teaching, and an agreement with Opus Dei provides guidance for Christian formation and optional spiritual assistance. Prospective students should consider whether that educational setting suits their preferences, while recognizing that participation in spiritual assistance is described as voluntary. Chile’s National Accreditation Commission records six years of institutional accreditation, running from 23 February 2022 to 23 February 2028. Accreditation is an important operating and quality-assurance signal, but program-level accreditation varies. Students entering regulated or professionally oriented fields should check the current status of their particular program. The university reported for 2025 more than 9,000 undergraduate students, over 2,400 postgraduate students, and an academic portfolio spanning undergraduate programs, bachelor-entry pathways, master’s degrees, doctorates, medical and dental specialties, and continuing education. That institutional snapshot is useful for scale but should not be treated as a 2026 enrollment count. The academic community operates principally from the San Carlos de Apoquindo campus in Las Condes, with additional clinical and community-facing activity through facilities such as the university clinic and the Centro de Salud Uandes in San Bernardo.

For Chilean undergraduate admission, UANDES participates in the national centralized university-access system. Applicants take the PAES and apply through DEMRE after results are released. The university’s published requirements include the compulsory Reading Competency and Mathematics 1 tests, an elective test in Sciences or History and Social Sciences, secondary-school grades, class ranking, a secondary-school completion certificate, and identity documentation. Mathematics 2 is additionally required by specified engineering and business programs. Selection rules are program-specific. Each career can set its own minimums, subject weightings, vacancies, and previous cutoff score. For example, the university’s 2026 Medicine page listed requirements and weights different from those for Ingeniería Comercial; such figures should never be transferred between programs. Cutoff scores describe a particular selection cycle and do not guarantee admission in a later year. UANDES also operates direct-admission routes based on achievements that complement PAES results, including categories connected with academic, sporting, leadership, artistic, scientific, or entrepreneurial merit. Eligibility and available places vary. International applicants and Chileans educated abroad should use the appropriate route and confirm how foreign secondary credentials are recognized. As of August 2026, the admissions homepage was promoting direct admission for 2027, while detailed 2026 pages remained online. Applicants should therefore follow the 2027 calendar and degree page for the cycle in which they will actually enroll.

UANDES offers education across health sciences, engineering, business and administration, law, humanities, communication, education, and social sciences. Its 2026 admissions catalogue listed 27 undergraduate careers and eight bachillerato pathways. The latter are structured entry programs connected to fields such as Medicine, Engineering, Law, Nursing, Business, Dentistry, Obstetrics, and Psychology; applicants should review progression rules rather than assume that entry to a bachillerato guarantees transfer into its associated professional degree. The undergraduate catalogue includes Medicine, Nursing, Dentistry, Psychology, several civil-engineering disciplines, Ingeniería Comercial, International Business, Law, Philosophy, History, Literature, education degrees, and communication programs. The university also runs master’s and doctoral education. Its official institutional overview reported seven doctoral and 41 master’s programs for 2025, while the university’s 2026 doctoral-community report described active participants across nine doctoral programs. Because these counts reflect different dates or definitions, candidates should use the live program directory when selecting a course of study. All undergraduate students take courses in the Programa de Estudios Generales, intended to add interdisciplinary study in the arts, humanities, culture, and sciences to professional training. Practice-based learning is especially visible in health programs: the Faculty of Medicine describes practical experience from the first year, public and private clinical placements, and use of a teaching clinic on campus. Engineering likewise combines undergraduate study with master’s and doctoral options. Program length, curriculum, professional title, clinical requirements, accreditation, and exchange opportunities are program-specific and should be checked on the relevant degree page.

Key Highlights

• Private nonprofit foundation founded in Santiago in 1989
• Institutionally accredited by CNA Chile through 23 February 2028
• Catholic institutional identity with optional spiritual assistance
• More than 9,000 undergraduate and 2,400 postgraduate students reported for 2025

Student Life & Environment

Student life extends beyond degree coursework through sports, culture, leadership, social-responsibility projects, pastoral activities, international programs, and student-led initiatives. Vida Universitaria supports workshops and university teams, while competitive funds allow students to propose projects in areas including sport, culture, sustainability, wellbeing, pastoral work, social responsibility, and internationalization. In March 2026, new students participated in orientation activities, a community volunteer project, and a fair presenting sports workshops and pastoral and social projects. The campus sports area includes football and small-sided football pitches, padel and tennis courts, a gym, a multipurpose court, and a climbing wall. The 2026 sports programme included both paid workshops and representative teams, so participation conditions and fees should be confirmed each semester. Student support pages also identify academic assistance, mental-health staff, library services, cultural extension, and career-oriented alumni workshops and vacancy information. UANDES does not present its accommodation options as conventional university-owned residence halls. Instead, its admissions site directs students from outside Santiago or abroad to a community accommodation finder and several external residences. These options have different eligibility rules; some are gender-specific or combine accommodation with work. Students should verify contracts, costs, commuting time, services, and institutional affiliation directly with each provider before committing.

Location & Surroundings

The main campus is at Monseñor Álvaro del Portillo 12,455 in Las Condes, in Santiago’s eastern sector near the foothills of the Andes. This is a landscaped, relatively self-contained campus rather than a central-city site, so commuting time and transport connections deserve attention when choosing accommodation. The university advertises an approach bus from Hernando de Magallanes metro station for students presenting a UANDES credential. From Los Dominicos, the eastern terminus of Metro Line 1, students can connect to the campus using specified public or municipal bus routes. Bicycle racks are available at several campus locations. Routes and schedules may change, so students should confirm them before each semester. Daily services include a library, student-service point, ATMs, sports spaces, cafeterias, kiosks, a university dining hall, and microwave areas for students bringing food. Health-related students may also travel to clinical placements elsewhere in Santiago, including public and private sites; the commute pattern for those programs can therefore differ from that of students whose teaching remains mainly on campus.

Costs & Career Outcomes

Undergraduate charges are published by program in Chilean inflation-linked unidades de fomento rather than as one university-wide peso figure. Costs can differ substantially. For illustration only, the official 2026 pages listed Medicine at 38 UF for enrollment and 313 UF in annual tuition, while Ingeniería Comercial listed 21 UF and 230 UF respectively. These figures apply to those programs and the 2026 cycle; students should consult the current page for their intended degree and convert UF to pesos using the value applicable when payment is due. Accommodation, food, transport, materials, and program-specific clinical or equipment needs require separate budgeting. For 2026 entrants, UANDES advertised academic, socioeconomic, and meal support. Its economic scholarship offered a 15% to 70% reduction in annual tuition and enrollment charges, subject to financial assessment and renewal conditions. Other awards could cover larger shares for qualifying students. University scholarships may be compatible with specified Chilean state benefits and the CAE, but the university states that it does not participate in Chile’s gratuidad scheme. Eligibility differs for public, subsidized, private, and foreign-school applicants. Career preparation varies by discipline. Health degrees incorporate clinical learning, while several professional programs include practice or placement components. Student services advertise career workshops and job listings through Alumni, and international study opportunities exist in multiple areas. No verified institution-wide salary or placement rate was found, so applicants should ask the relevant faculty for recent, program-level graduate outcomes and professional-licensing information.