Universidad Nacional de Colombia

The Universidad Nacional de Colombia also called UNAL or just UN, is a public, national, coeducational, research university, located primarily in Bogotá, Medellín, Manizales and Palmira, Colombia. Established in 1867 by an act of the Congress of Colombia, the university is the largest, best and most important higher education institution of the country with more than 44,000 students, the largest number of graduated professionals per year, and number of academic programmes at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, with 423 academic programmes, which includes 94 graduate diplomas, 61 Academic specialisation, 38 medical specialties, 131 Master's degrees, and 46 doctorates. It is also one of the few universities that employs post-doctorate fellows in the country. Approximately 40,000 students are studying for an undergraduate degree and 4,000 for a graduate degree.

The university is a member of the Association of Colombian Universities (ASCUN), the Iberoamerican Association of Postgraduate Universities (AUIP), and the Iberoamerican University Network Universia. Along with the Antioquia and Valle universities, it conforms what is known as the Golden Triangle of higher education in Colombia, being among the most selective and competitive universities in the country. A study by Universia found it to be the Colombian university producing the largest number of scientific papers published in peer-refereed publications in 2005, and the 45th most prolific in Latin America. Furthermore, according to the Latinamerican Web Ranking of Universities, the National University of Colombia ranked in the first place of the country, and among the best universities in the region. Regarding the CIVETS universities, the National University occupied the fifth place.

The institution offers a wide selection of programmes, such as medicine, nursing, dentistry, engineering, chemistry, pharmacy, mathematics, physics, geology, biology, social sciences, arts (music, fine arts), philosophy, and law.