University of Sonora

The University of Sonora or the Universidad de Sonora, usually known as Unison, is a public university in the north-west of Mexico.

Founded in 1942, it is the largest university in the border state of Sonora. Its headquarters and main campus are in the state capital, Hermosillo, which in spite of ferocious summer temperatures was rated by a national government-funded survey in 2013 as having the fifth best quality of life among major Mexican cities. There are satellite campuses at Caborca, Navojoa, Nogales and Cajeme.

Unison’s motto "el saber de mis hijos hara mi grandeza" translates as "my greatness will lie in the knowledge of my children". Its sports teams play as the Buhos (Owls), while the university television station XHUS-TDT has been broadcasting, with some breaks, since 1965.

While offering the full range of academic disciplines, its strength is in science and engineering with postgraduate programmes in physics, materials science, geology, engineering, food science and immunohematology. Unison’s first dentistry class graduated in 2018.

Internationalisation is a priority under current academic plans. More than 100 students will be funded for two semesters of study abroad in 2018-9, most in Latin America. Cross-border co-operation with the University of Arizona dates back to a joint geological project launched in 1983, with initiatives in 2017 focusing on physics and indigenous human rights.

Unison’s space scientists are collaborating with their counterparts at Arizona State University and the national space agencies of the USA and Mexico on a study of the potential for human settlement on the Moon and Mars.