Corporacion Universitaria Minuto de Dios

Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios - UNIMINUTO is a private non-profit entity that for more than 30 years has offered high quality, relevant and preferential higher education to low-income populations through an innovative, comprehensive and flexible model that combines face-to-face, virtual and blended learning programmes to guarantee access. It is constituted as a university system with a main campus located in the city of Bogotá and regional branches located in 50 municipalities in the departments of Bolívar, Atlántico, Magdalena, Norte de Santander, Santander, Antioquia, Chocó, Caldas, Risaralda, Cundinamarca, Casanare, Vichada, Meta, Guaina, Tolima, Valle, Cauca, Huila, Nariño, Putumayo, Caquetá and Vaupés.

Its mission is to offer high quality and relevant higher education with a preferential option for those who do not have opportunities to access it, through an innovative, comprehensive and flexible model.
To form excellent human beings, competent professionals, ethically oriented and committed to social transformation and sustainable development.
To contribute, with our commitment and our testimony, to the construction of a fraternal, just, reconciled and peaceful society.

UNIMINUTO is one of the eight entities belonging to Obra El Minuto de Dios, a social work that for more than 65 years has been at the service of society, through an integral development approach understood as the promotion of people, the construction of communities and the transformation of territories. However, in its social work, UNIMINUTO has faced social problems that are increasingly complex to solve, because they involve a high degree of uncertainty and tension, are interrelated with environmental and economic problems, and involve a greater number of actors. In this sense, UNIMINUTO actively enrolls with a large number of public, private, national and international partners that contribute to achieve this mission and facilitate the work with the communities.

UNIMINUTO currently has 108,007 students distributed in all the above-mentioned campuses, 98% of whom belong to the lower income population. Likewise, 51% of the current students study in the distance mode, which allows them to develop their work activities on weekdays, while attending classes during the weekend. It has a national offer of 248 undergraduate and postgraduate academic programmes in face-to-face, distance and virtual modalities, and 40% of the accredited offer is accredited in high quality. It also has a physical presence in 75% (24) of the country's departments, with more than 73 university centres.

The Institution is internationally recognised for obtaining 4 stars in the results of the most recent measurement of the QS Stars Rating System. Is recognised nationally and internationally for its Service Based Learning model, and for the social impact of its research and social projection, aimed at providing solutions to the needs of the most vulnerable communities. The only HEI in Colombia that has a Social Innovation Science Park, an actor that promotes research with a social sense in the territory.

During its social work, UNIMINUTO has faced social challenges that are increasingly complex to solve and require the inclusion of innovative practices and collaborative work between public and private actors in most of its processes to be solved. Under this scenario and being aware of the need to generate innovative solutions to social challenges, UNIMINUTO constituted the campus Social Innovation Science Park (PCIS) in order to promote social innovation based on knowledge to contribute to the sustainable integral development of the poorest communities, and to articulate public and private actors around services and projects of teaching, research and social projection, always under the condition of social appropriation of knowledge.

The PCIS has more than 8 years of experience, in which it has developed actions aimed at mitigating climate change and generating sustainable livelihoods for the country's poorest communities. These actions have materialised in projects financed with public and private resources totalling more than 40 billion pesos (approximately £271,535,468), which have benefited more than 10,000 people. These have been aimed at generating sustainable livelihoods for local populations living in poverty; strengthening the scientific capacities of children and adolescents; promoting the care of the territory's resources; and generating collaborative work networks to strengthen the territory's governance, among others.

According to the Working Document of the Institutional Development Plan 2023-2030, the Institution plans a strategy of national and international expansion, seeking to reach a population of 180,000 students. This requires a strong investment to continue supporting students economically; in physical and technological infrastructure with special emphasis on Artificial Intelligence, and educational media; the training of teachers and collaborators; the financing of research and social innovation projects; among other leveraging initiatives.

In this way, UNIMINUTO will be able to continue contributing to the closing of poverty gaps in learning in the country, expanding its capacity for access and coverage with inclusion, giving the poorest the opportunity to access quality higher education and complete their training cycle, promoting social mobility.