University of the Republic

The University of the Republic (, sometimes UdelaR) is a public research university in Montevideo, Uruguay. It is the oldest and largest university in the country, as well as the second largest public university in South America and the world's 57th largest by enrollment, with a student body of 137,757 undergraduate students in 2018 and 6,351 postgraduate students in 2012. It was founded on 18 July 1849 in Montevideo, where most of its buildings and facilities are still located. Its current rector is Rodrigo Arim. History The process of founding the country's public university began on 11 June 1833, when a law proposed by then-Senator Dámaso Antonio Larrañaga was passed. It called for the creation of nine academic departments; the President of the Republic would pass a decree formally creating the departments once the majority of them were in operation. In 1836 the House of General Studies was formed, housing the departments of Latin, philosophy, mathematics, theology and jurisprudence. On 27 May 1838, Manuel Oribe passed a decree through which created the Greater University of the Republic. That decree had few practical effects, given the institutional instability of the Oriental Republic of the Uruguay at that time.