University of San Francisco, Quito (USFQ) is the realisation of a dream by its main promoter, Santiago Gangotena González, and the selfless contributions of many others. In 1988, the first fully self-financed university in Ecuador, USFQ, opened its doors with 12 founding academicians. USFQ began with three schools Management for Development; Communication and Culture; and Applied Sciences. As time went by, new academic disciplines were added, and they were organised into new schools. By 1992, there were six schools: Management for Development; Communication and Arts; Environmental Sciences; Applied Sciences; Social Sciences and Humanities; and Languages. These last two were later combined into the School of Liberal Arts. Subsequently, new schools were founded: Architecture; Health Sciences; the Polytechnic School; Law; Hospitality and Culinary Arts; Food, Agro-business and Nutrition; Technologies; of Graduate Studies; and Education. Twenty-five years later, and after some consolidation, the university is organised into 11 schools, which cover almost all major disciplines of knowledge. Today, USFQ has positioned itself as a quality university, as evidenced by the high rate of placement of its graduates, both locally and internationally, as well as the excellence demonstrated by students who have completed postgraduate studies in other countries. Similarly, USFQ faculty members are recognised worldwide through their publications in indexed journals, and through their participation in international congresses. USFQ is the first Ecuadorian university to have actively participated in two discoveries of worldwide importance: the top quark and the first evidence of the asymmetry between matter and antimatter in the universe.
