The University of Arts (UArtes, in Spanish) is a public higher education institution created in 2013 from the provisions of the Organic Law of Higher Education issued in 2010. Its central purpose is the education of art professionals with full mastery of their field, and the orientation of its teaching and research activities towards creative arts production, which contributes to the expansion of knowledge, the promotion of culture and the development of creative economies in the national context. In the framework of Ecuador's 2016 Quadrennial Periodic Report, the creation of UArtes was reported as a transformative milestone of higher education in the country and included the achievements of its first years of operations, which were basically its consolidation period. Four years later, it has been considered important to demonstrate the growth and development of this important institution.
The University of Arts offers students a complete a education program through five schools: Cinema, Literature, Performing Arts, Visual Arts and Sound Arts. It has 4 master's degree programs and 8 bachelor programs, and Leveling, Languages, and Critical Theories and Experimental Practices departments.
Its academic offer as well as the various arts education programs and options attract students from different provinces of Ecuador such as Guayas, Pichincha, Esmeraldas, Los Rios, Manabi, mainly, generating in this way an environment of constant cultural exchange and diversity.
Since its creation the main headquarters of UArtes, are in the City of Guayaquil; however, in recent years two additional branches have been designed and will be build in the City of Cuenca and in the City of Loja, respectively. Its student population has tripled over the past four years from 1,875 to 6,572 students.
In addition, it has become a center of high quality higher studies internationally recognized, especially in the Latin American region, through the holding of Arts Research International Meetings, and the conclusion of international agreements with around 123 institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean, North America and Europe.
From the report of its first achievements in 2016, UArtes has recorded the following results through its management and the strengthening and consolidation of its teaching and research activities:
Academic training results:
* 5 schools, 8 bachelor programs and 4 master's degree programs.
* 6,572 students enrolled between 2015 and 2019.
* 138 students graduated by 2019.
* 24 artistic projects of the first promotion (2018) were exhibited in the exhibition entitled "Estar siendo".
* Various exhibitions of the 2019 degree works were held in visual art galleries, cinemas, university spaces and theaters.
* 65 artists successfully completed the process of "Validation of Professional Trajectories" in the field of arts.
* The teaching staff comprises 17 tenured professors, 158 occasional and invited lecturers, both national and international, all of them education professionals, and 66% of them with a 4th level degree, thus ensuring high quality education.
* 1,300 students and 161 professors were trained in online teaching.
Research results:
* Nine different research lines covering areas such as artistic practices of interculturality, critical and creative pedagogies from the arts point of view, arts management, public space, digital media, experimental and transdiciplinary practices in arts, among others.
* 124 circulations of artistic production in 2017 and 135 in 2018.
* Observatory on Cultural and Creative Industries Public Policies.
* In coordination with the Latin American Institute for Arts Research, the publication of the F-ILIA Magazine and PRELIMINARY Collection, student workbooks and monthly academic information bulletin were developed.
* CLACSO Work Group: Winning Proposal "Arts, Education and Citizenship" (2019); UArtes and National University of Arts of Argentina (UNA);
* Headquarters of the IV International Meeting of Arts Research held in 2019, with 3,800 attendees, 16 international guests, 13 national guests, 34 guest UArtes Professors, 16 invited UArtes students, 12 workshops, 14 discussion tables and 11 artistic events.
* 53 productions carried out by the publisher of UArtes.
Management results:
* 123 national and international signed cooperation agreements.
* 8 institutional recognitions, 45 student and 44 teacher recognitions.
* Promotion of public education, empowerment of public space, bringing children closer to arts and the development of cultural and creative industries through various platforms and meetings managed for these purposes.
* Library with 41,100 books, 1,106 Telegrafo volumes, 1,419 audiovisual resources, 10, 486 virtual database queries, 10,361 hard-copy queries and 53,655 internal and external visits.
* 122 civil society outreach projects.
* An inclusive University Community, with Afro Ecuadorian, indigenous, Montubian, mestizo, people with disabilities and LGBTI teachers, students and administrative staff.
Management results for the promotion of Creative and Cultural Industries
* Cluster for the activation of cultural industries with the participation of different national and international institutions.
* Generation of 18 spaces and 8 services to develop creative economies.
From 2012 to 2019, a total of$61,668,871.00 was allocated in personnel, services, consumer goods, works and infrastructure, furniture, equipment and systems.
| Name of partner | Type of entity |
|---|---|
Government of the Republic of Ecuador Ministry of Culture and Heritage
| Public Sector
|
SENPLADES (current Technical Secretariat “Planifica Ecuador”)
| Public Sector
|
Council for Higher Education (CES, in Spanish)
| Public Sector
|
Higher Education Quality Assurance Council
| Public Sector
|