Simón Bolívar University
- Filed under: Venezuela
- Date: May 21,2008
Simón Bolívar University (Universidad Simón Bolívar in Spanish) or USB, is a public institution located in Caracas, Venezuela with scientific and technological orientation. Its motto is “La Universidad del Futuro” (”The University of the Future”).
Both nationally and globally, Simón Bolívar University is a well-known school with a high reputation in scientific and engineering careers. Its graduates are known for achieving high professional standards.
On May 1967 the government created a commission composed by Luis Manuel Peñalver, Luis Carbonell, Mercedes Fermín, Miguel Angel Pérez and Héctor Isava to study the possibility of creating a new university that would offer studies to directly promote the economical and social development of the country. On July 18th, 1967 the President of Venezuela Raúl Leoni signed a decree which officially founded the University as an Instituto Experimental de Educación Superior focused mainly on scientific and tecnological research. The original name given to the university was Universidad de Caracas; however, the first name of the Central University of Venezuela was also “Universidad de Caracas” and it was still known by that name. Members of The National Academy of History, the Bolivarian Society of Venezuela and other important institutions expressed their wish to relate the name of El Libertador Simón Bolívar to the name of the recently created university, which resulted in the change to the name of Universidad Experimental Simón Bolívar in 1969.
The closed-campus-style grounds are located in the southern part of the city Caracas, in the Sartenejas valley, in the municipality of Baruta, Miranda State. Its total surface is approximately of 3,489,000 m². The valley is made up of two sectors. The first sector, a plain zone of approximately 90 acres (364,000 m²), raised about 1200 meters above sea level, contains the campus proper. The other sector is maintained as a nature reserve, due to its topographical characteristics, with an altitude between 1,200 and 1,400 meters above sea level.