The Federico Santa María Technical University (, UTFSM, or simply Santa Maria University) is a Chilean university member of the Rector's Council (CRUCh), founded in 1931 in Valparaíso, Chile.
The university has campuses in Valparaiso, Viña del Mar, Santiago (Vitacura and San Joaquín) and Concepcion. The Federico Santa María Technical University is the alma mater of several prominent businessmen, engineers and Chilean scientists. Its students and alumni are known as "Sansanos".
The UTFSM was the first Chilean university to confer a doctorate in engineering in 1962 and the first higher-education institution in Latin America to confer this degree.http://www.bib.utfsm.cl/nuevositio/attachments/087_80%20a%C3%B1os%20de%20universidad.pdf Reseña Histórica – Biblioteca UTFSM The UTFSM university radio is the oldest campus radio in Latin America.
The university admission is very competitive and, it is known for its rigorous study requirements, demanding study program. For the years 2011–2016, the UTFSM has an undergraduate retention rate of 82% by the first year of studies, and a 66% by the second year. Less than 1% of its students are international, and most of the available courses are imparted in Spanish.
The graduation date is held on 20 December every year, since it commemorates the anniversary of the death of the founder, Federico Santa Maria Carrera, on 20 December 1925.
History
The university takes its name from Federico Santa María, a Chilean philanthropist that lived in France. He raised a huge fortune as a broker in the sugar market in Paris. Before his death, he donated all his fortune to create a university in Valparaíso, his hometown. Although the exact amount of his fortune is unknown, it is believed to have been around 27 billion dollars of today's currency. While in Paris in 1920, in his testament, Santa María donated his fortune with the idea of building a high-standard technical and scientific institution.
In his will, Santa María manifested that his desired executors contribute to material progress and expand Chile's cultural horizons; altruistic ideas which sought to facilitate entry into the academic life of outstanding compatriots dispossessed but without further requirement than merit, skills and high academic achievement. This institution would accept and prepare the best students from all socioeconomic backgrounds to gain technical and scientific knowledge that contribute to the progress of the country.
The executors were chosen by Santa María to be Agustin Edwards Mac-Clure, Juan Brown Caces, Carlos van Buren and Andrew Geddes.
Following his philosophy, on March 31, 1926, an institution was created to develop Santa María's legacy. In 1931, the School of Crafts and Arts and School of Engineering José Miguel Carrera was founded. In 1935, its name changed to Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María.
The condition imposed by Federico Santa María was that, during the first 10 years, the university must receive academics from the best schools of sciences and engineering. Following this imperative, the executor of this project, Agustín Edwards Mac-Clure, traveled to Germany where he contacted Karl Laudien, at the time rector of a technical school in the Western Pemerania region, and he became the first rector of the university. From that moment, the university received a strong German influence in its engineering education. Several German engineers and scientists arrived before and after the second world war from institutions such as TU Berlin, Berlin University, and Leipzig University among other German institutions. They brought to the university cutting edge knowledge in physics, chemistry and engineering. For example, Arnold Keller, professor of the Physics department at UTFSM, was involved in the development of the V-1 rockets during the second world war, as part of the team of Wernher von Braun. Research in new areas to the country such as Solar Energy, or Chemistry of Natural Products were created, which delivered two Nacional Science Prize awards, Herbert Appel in 1970, and Juan Garbarino in 1998.
In 1934, the Scientia magazine is published, becoming the voice for the university's academic work.
In 1937, the Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria Radio was created, becoming the first university radio broadcaster in Chile and Latin America, focused to broadcasting information and cultural programs. The radio still broadcasts to this day, in the AM: 1.450 and FM: 99,7 signals in the Valparaiso region. The radio also has an online signal.
In 1939, the Alumni association was founded, known today as AEXA (Asociación de Ex-Alumnos).
In 1960, the Graduate School was created, and its first director was Herbert Appel (1960-1964), offering the PhD study lines for chemical, electrical and mechanical engineering. In 1963 the university became the first higher-education institution in Latin America to confer a doctorate in engineering, in cooperation with the University of Pittsburgh. In the 1960s the university started a strategy of national and international expansion. In 1966 the Technical campus "Viña del Mar" was founded. In 1972 the campus "Rey Balduino de Bélgica" in the southeast city of Concepción with orientation in technical-professional areas was founded. The project received strong financial support from Baudouin King.
In 1964, the university grants for the first time a technical degree to a woman, the chemical technician Patricia Guzman. In 1965 Graciela Muñoz graduates as its first female engineer.
The UTFSM was the first university of the 8 existing universities in Chile at the time to restart its operations on 15 October 1973, after the Military coup of 11 September 1973.
Campuses The university has three campuses and two branch campuses (sedes):
Casa Central, main campus. Inaugurated in 1931 in Valparaíso Campus Vitacura, Inaugurated in 1995 in Vitacura, Santiago, Chile. Campus San Joaquín. Inaugurated in 2009 in San Joaquin, Santiago, Chile. Sede José Miguel Carrera, located in Viña del Mar. Sede Rey Balduino de Bélgica, Inaugurated in 1972 in Talcahuano, Chile.
While the campuses are focused on undergraduate, graduate and university academical activities, sedes are mainly dedicated to technical degrees.
Additionally the UTFSM started in 1996 a Campus located in Guayaquil, Ecuador, from an agreement with the Universidad Laica Eloy Alfaro de Manta, campus which closed in 2018, with the infrastructure being taken over by a newly created university, Universidad del Rio. Around 600 students in 2019 expect to be graduated by 2023, process which will lead to the definitive closure of UTFSM Activities in Ecuador.
Main campus, Valparaíso The main UTFSM campus (or Casa Central) is located in Valparaíso, covering most of the front area of Los Placeres hill, on the grounds of the former Pudeto fort. The site faces the Pacific coast and it is visible from many parts of the bay of Valparaíso.
The building was designed by Josué Smith Solar, one of the most respected Chilean architects of the 20th century, and his son José Smith Miller. The American Neo-Gothic style campus is considered one of the foremost works of Chilean architecture. The campus is also recognised for its beautiful gardening, with native and exotic species.
In 2001, the illumination of the university frontis was renewed through a contest organised by the Chilean branch of Philips.
The main campus has a gothic scholastic architecture with a privileged view to the Pacific Ocean. This campus includes more than 3 hectares of green areas making it the biggest urban park in Valparaiso, despite it being closed to the public. In 2008 it was chosen as one of the most remarkable national architectural works of the 20th century.
Branch campus Viña del Mar, "José Miguel Carrera" In the 1960s, the university formulated an expansion plan. With financial assistance from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the support of the Ford Foundation, advice from Dunwoody Industrial Institute in the US, and a donation of land by Chile's Agricultural Development Institute INDAP (from the Spanish "Instituto de Desarrollo Agropecuario"), a fully furnished building was constructed in 1971 in Viña del Mar, and it was named the "Jose Miguel Carrera" branch campus, following the testamentary vision of the university founder, the philanthropist Federico Santa María.
This branch is located on the border between the communes of Vina del Mar and Quilpué in Chile.
Branch campus Concepción, "Rey Baduino de Belgica" By the mid-1960s, the university planned to install six schools in different parts of the country.
In October 1965, the Kings of Belgium, Baudouin I and Fabiola de Mora y Aragon visited the university headquarters in Valparaíso, were introduced to its educational project and as a result initiated conversations for the construction of a branch campus in the city of Concepción.
Meanwhile, our country strengthens their contributions: the government facilitates the exchange of funds provided by Belgium; local businesses such as the San Pedro Sawmills, Cementos Bio Bio, Pacific Steel Company, Fanaloza, Inchalam, Pizarreño, Glasses Lirquén, among others, also contributed in its construction. Additionally, a donation of Archbishop of Concepción provided the land needed for the building construction. Its construction began in 1969.
Academic activities started on April 26, 1971, offering the careers of Electronics, Electrical, Structural Mechanics, Maintenance Mechanics, and Chemistry. On February 14, 1972, the campus branch was inaugurated solemnly in the presence of the President of Chile, Salvador Allende Gossens, and the university rector, Jaime Chiang Acosta.
Academic rankings and accreditation The UTFSM has been historically perceived as one of the most prestigious engineering schools in the country and more recently, with the appearance of national and international rankings, has been placed among the top Universities in Chile and Latin America.="http://www.quepasa.cl/articulo/ojos-de-la-llave/2014/12/17-15854-9-ranking-de-universidades-2014.shtml The UTFSM has consistently been considered as one of the best engineering universities in Latin America, and appears regularly as a highly ranked university in many of the published world university rankings.
For 10 consecutive years, UTFSM has been ranked among the three best Universities in Chile in terms of quality perception given by more than 1000 important national business executives. In 2012, the university was ranked 5 between 9,500 schools of engineering in the world according to their impact factor in the last 5 years (Microsoft Academics), as the latinoamerican university with the largest normalized impact factor, and as the first school of engineering in South America.http://www.scimagoir.com/ Ibero-American Ranking According to Times Higher Education Ranking UTFSM has been decreasing its ranking from being among the 251-275 best Universities in the World in 2015, to being between the 1201-1500 best universities. Its THE ranking for the UTFSM in Latin America has decreased from #13 in 2016, to #49 in 2022. In 2019, the UTFSM was ranked 2nd in Latin America in the Times Higher Education (THE) world ranking for Engineering and Technology. US News has ranked the UTFSM as #64 in the Best Global Universities ranking, #15 in the Best Universities in Latin America ranking, and #3 in the Best Universities in Chile ranking.
Accreditations
Chilean National Accreditation commission CNA: 6 years until December 2022
Organization
Directive council As of 2025, the president of the UTFSM Directive Council is Ms. Yessica Cartagena. The following table summarizes the different presidents the UTFSM has had in its history.