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Universidad de Guayaquil

Universidad de Guayaquil

Quick facts

City
Guayaquil
Country
Ecuador
Type
Public
Founded
1867
Students
56,505
National ranking
#10
Tuition (local students)
US$0
Tuition (international)
US$0
Guide score
6.3/10

Official website: www.ug.edu.ec

Overview

The Universidad de Guayaquil (UG), founded in 1867, is Ecuador's largest public university by undergraduate enrolment. Its 2024 accountability report lists 55,968 students in the first cycle and 56,505 in the second. The main campus is the Ciudadela Universitaria Salvador Allende, on Av. Delta and Av. Kennedy beside the Estero Salado, between the Kennedy, Bellavista and Urdesa districts in north-central Guayaquil. Some faculties and extension sites are elsewhere in the city and province, including an agricultural programme in Vinces.

UG is institutionally accredited by CACES (Resolution 145-SE-33-CACES-2020), extended in October 2025 by Resolution 216-SO-29-CACES-2025 until the next evaluation cycle. Its Medicine and Dentistry careers received programme accreditation in March 2025. In Webometrics July 2026 it ranks 10th in Ecuador and 2,710th in the world. In the QS Latin America and Caribbean 2026 ranking it sits in the 351-400 band. International student share is not published; we leave it null.

Academic programs

UG has 17 faculties and more than 50 undergraduate careers, taught in Spanish, from Medicine, Dentistry and Nursing to Law, Economics, Architecture, Psychology, Education, Industrial Engineering and Gastronomy. The most demanded careers in 2026 were Medicine, Early Childhood Education, Law, Nursing, Industrial Engineering, Psychology, Gastronomy and Dentistry. New offers include Mechatronics and an online Data Science and Artificial Intelligence degree.

Undergraduate study is free under gratuidad (Constitution Art. 356, LOES Art. 80). Foreigners living in Ecuador have the same right. Conditions: take at least 60% of the credits each term. Repeat enrolments are not free, and failing more than 30% of the curriculum removes gratuidad permanently. Postgraduate programmes charge fees.

Campus life

Life at UG is big, busy and loud, with faculty sports, student federations and street food on every corner of the Ciudadela. Guayaquil is hot and humid all year, with a rainy season from roughly January to April. Safety is the main caveat. Guayaquil has had high crime in recent years, so use registered taxis or ride-hailing at night and avoid walking the Estero edges after dark.

Exchange programs

A Coordinación de Internacionalización y Movilidad Universitaria manages agreements. The 2024 report lists 15 new framework agreements but only 2 student exchanges, so incoming mobility is essentially case-by-case. If you want a semester here, your home university should contact the coordination office directly and confirm course equivalences in writing. Information pending on a formal incoming-student guide — contributions welcome.

Admissions

Since 2025, public universities run their own admission after the national Registro Nacional managed by MINEDEC. At UG, applicants register on admision.ug.edu.ec and may choose up to two careers within the same knowledge block. The UG exam is worth 50% of the final score. For the second 2026 cycle, registration ran 13-20 July and exams ran 1-25 September.

Competition is real. For the first 2026 cycle, 45,880 people registered, 27,286 sat the exam and 8,660 places were offered. That is about 32 places per 100 test-takers, but it is not an official acceptance rate, so the field stays null.

Foreign applicants must homologate their secondary diploma with the Ministerio de Educación (apostilled and translated). For a full degree they should obtain a student temporary residence visa from Cancillería, valid for the length of studies and up to two years per grant.

Student housing

There are no university residences. Students rent in Bellavista, Kennedy, Urdesa and Barrio Orellana. Current listings show rooms at USD 150-220/month (≈ €130-190), with one room half a block from UG at USD 190. Small suites in the centre (Piedrahita y Mascote) run around USD 250 (≈ €215). Air conditioning is worth paying for.

Career services

Pre-professional internships and community-service hours (vinculación) are compulsory in every career. Hospitals, schools and Guayaquil's port and commercial sector are the main placements. Information pending on a central careers or job-board service — contributions welcome.

Academic programs

Application deadlines

Exchange

Coordinación de Internacionalización y Movilidad Universitaria manages framework agreements, but student exchange is small (2 exchanges reported in 2024). Also listed in the Parlamento Andino / Uniwords network.

Universities in Guayaquil

Next steps

Sources