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Pontificia Universidad Javeriana - Assembly IAJU 2025

Pontificia Universidad Javeriana

LOCATION

  • Pontificia Universidad Javeriana is a Higher Education institution with a main campus located in Bogotá and another branch campus in Cali. The university community consists of more than:

30,000

Students

5,000

Professors

2,800

Administrative employees

  • The Main Campus is located on carrera séptima, one of Bogota's most representative avenues that runs from south to north through the city. It is a road that has existed since before the colonial era and was named as Camino de Sal ("Salt Road") by the Spanish.
  • To the south, the University borders the Enrique Olaya Herrera National Park on Calle 39, which was declared a National Monument. To the north, Javeriana ends at Calle 45 and to the east, it borders the Circunvalar Avenue.

+ 25,000

people circulate on our campus daily, as this is an open campus and public roads pass through it.

 
Pontificia Universidad Javeriana
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Inside the campus is the San Ignacio University Hospital, which has been providing public service to thousands of people since 1942.

The campus occupies 18 hectares, with 72,875 square meters (784,420 square feet) covered by green areas and over 143 meters (469 feet) of open areas. The built space covers 246,000 square meters (2’647,922 square feet) consisting of buildings and modern spaces serving the academic community.

 

Jesuit Identity

Throughout its 400-year history, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana has been distinguished in Colombia and the world for being a university aware of social realities and its needs, contributing, through social research and discernment, to the formation of leaders with critical thinking who seek the promotion of justice, service to others and the transformation towards a sensible and reflective society on collective issues.

This university work is based on cultivating in its students a stimulating desire for excellence and quality; the delivery of interdisciplinary knowledge to men and women who are agents of their own formation, accompanied by the principles and values of Ignatian pedagogy that, in the face of the challenges of the future, favors responsible decisionmaking at personal, religious, scientific, cultural, environmental, and political levels


Javeriana Academically

  • Pontificia Universidad Javeriana has been a pioneer in the Higher Education Institution Accreditation System in Colombia. It was one of the first universities to accredit its academic programs and the first university in Colombia to obtain the high-quality institutional accreditation in 2003, granted by the National Government.
  • In 2020, the National Accreditation Council of the Ministry of Education (Ministerio de Educación) awarded Javeriana with the Multicampus High-Quality Institutional Accreditation for 10 years, the maximum accreditable period. This recognition highlights Pontificia Universidad Javeriana’s ability to maintain its institutional and educational project across multiple campuses over an extended period, ensuring quality and compliance with rigorous standards

The university offers a wide range of academic programs: it has 18 faculties, 48 undergraduate programs, 77 master's degrees, 103 non-thesis programs, 13 doctorates, 9 ecclesiastical programs, and over 600 courses and diplomas.

Javeriana has 129 research groups recognized by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (Ministerio de Ciencias, Tecnología e Innovación), and 14 research institutes. Additionally, it has 42 registered patents.

  • Infrastructure and Sustainability
  • Conservation of Biodiversity

Infrastructure and Sustainability

 

  • In 2018, the main campus of Pontificia Universidad Javeriana developed the Master Plan of Urban and Architectural Development of the physical plant under an environmentally respectful vision and in line with its Ecological and Environmental Policy.
  • Each renovation or new construction complies with design parameters in materials, water, landscaping, resource use and circular economy. It is the first university in the world to obtain EDGE certification for five of its buildings designed to reduce water consumption by up to 42% and of energy by 39%.
  • Since 2020, the university has obtained 100% of its energy from clean and renewable sources, for which it received the international I-REC certification.

Building Jorge Hoyos, S.J.  

Building Gerardo Arango, S.J  

Building Gabriel Maldonado, S.J  

New Science Building  

Sapiencia Tower (Sede Calle 125) 

Conservation of Biodiversity

  • The main campus of the university, located in Bogotá, has open green spaces within the campus with 2,213 specimens, including 13 species of flora that are on the red list of threatened species (IUCN), 25 unique species in Bogotá, 157 native species and 50 exotic species.
  • There are also 4 orchid nurseries with 15 exotic species. Additionally, there is 1 urban apiary with 500,000 bees and the cat-care program with houses distributed throughout the campus.

Cali Branch Campus

The Cali branch campus of Javeriana, located in the Valle del Cauca department in the southwest of the country, was founded on October 6, 1970.

Its academic offerings consist of 5 faculties, 27 undergraduate programs, and 53 postgraduate programs. In 2012, it received the Institutional Accreditation of High Quality and is the first university in southwestern Colombia to receive the ABET International Accreditation.

The institutional commitment is focused on the development of the individual, based on Xaverian values and principles, from training in areas such as sports, art, culture, and spirituality.

The Cali branch is considered an urban forest that coexists with biodiversity. In 1983, construction of its headquarters began in a privileged location surrounded by flora, fauna, and water sources. Today, its campus is characterized by:

  • The campus of the branch campus has 16 hectares, approximately 85 square meters (915 square feet) belong to green areas.
  • 176 species of identified trees, several of these are protected, namely palms, ceibas, alligators and carboneros.
  • Sustainable construction. Iis Cedro Rosado building is the first higher education project to obtain LEED Gold certificacion in Colombia. 

 

Pontificia Universidad Javeriana
Visit the Cali branch campus website

Javeriana throughout History

 

 

Colonial Period

Pontificia Universidad Javeriana is the second oldest university in Colombia and has been present in higher education in the country for more than 400 years. It was officially inaugurated on June 13, 1623, through a papal brief and a royal decree that granted university status to the courses taught by the Jesuits in America. The first degrees of Bachelor in Arts and Theology were awarded to students who had completed the corresponding courses at the school of the Society of Jesus, among them Saint Pedro Claver S.J., who would be canonized in 1888. After 143 years of operation, the university closed its doors on July 31, 1767, due to the expulsion of the Jesuits, marking the end of its first stage during the colonial period.

Contemporary Period

On October 1st , 1930, a meeting was held to reopen university studies directed by the Society of Jesus in Bogotá. On February 16th, 1931, the first academic year was inaugurated with a Mass of the Holy Spirit celebrated in the Church of Saint Ignatius, Comentado [ESB2]: TBC marking the beginning of the second stage of Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. Since then, the University has experienced notable institutional development, moving from an initial location in downtown Bogotá to an extensive campus along Carrera Séptima in the capital and another in Cali, from where it carries out extensive academic, research and service activities nationally and internationally.

Experience the Campus

Gastronomy

Chapels

Points of Interest