University of la Costa

Universidad de la Costa CUC is a private university in Barranquilla, the largest city on Colombia’s northern coast. Nearly 13,000 students attend the university, 90 per cent of which are undergraduates, and there are 705 faculty members.

The university was effectively founded in 1970, but only gained official university status from the Colombian government in 2012. This allowed the university to begin offering master’s programmes the following year. Four years later, in 2016, a new eight-storey postgraduate building with two auditoriums and 70 classrooms was opened.

CUC publishes five different scientific journals, having launched its publishing house EDUCOSTA in 2004. This includes engineering journal INGE CUC, as well as publications covering to law, architecture and economics.

Each year, CUC hosts an event promoting good governance featuring notable political guest speakers and participants. In 2018, Iván Duque Márquez, who would later go on to be elected Colombian President was in attendance, as well as Carlos Valderrama, who captained the Colombian national football team at multiple world cups.

CUC is one of multiple universities in Barranquilla, along with Universidad del Norte and Universidad del Atlántico. The city has over 1.2 million residents and is the fourth largest in Colombia.

The yearly Barranquilla carnival takes place just over a month before Easter. It consists of four days of partying, dancing and music, beginning with a parade called the Battle of Flowers. The carnival’s importance to cultural heritage was recognised by UNESCO in 2003 and it is one of the biggest events of its kind in South America.