An innovative university

The UNGS is organised into interdisciplinary institutes, where research, teaching and services to the community work in harmony. The important participation of researchers – full time professors are favoured so to form a permanent relationship with the students, and ensure a high level of quality in the training process.

An innovative university

The Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento (UNGS), created in 1993, adopted as a principle, the relation between training, critical research of problems, which affect the society and the search for action alternatives to overcome those problems.

It intends to contribute to democratisation of education and the access to knowledge to every sector of the society, and looks for academic excellence.

Additionally it maintains a strict policy of position competition; proposing centralised strategies of learning in the students, to whom they offer opportunities of personalised training, and encouragement, at the same time, the use of interdisciplinary and integrated lab models that broaden the professional perspective.

The University assumes a pedagogical experience centred on assuring a solid basic and specific training of students.

This permits the students to access theoretical knowledge and up-to-date information about critical issues, indispensable to develop their carer in different institutional areas and, eventually, progress to postgraduate studies.

In this framework, the University offers: free special degrees; nationally recognised titles; economic scholarships; personalised tutorial support; modern and efficient public access library and quality academic premises.

The UNGS is organised into interdisciplinary institutes, with an important participation of full time research-teachers, which guarantees a closer relation between training, research and services.

• The Institute of Science (ICI) carries out basic and applied research, and is in charge of the training of the General University Cycle.
• The Institute of Industry (IdeI) deals with the problems of production industry activity, emphasising on small and medium companies.
• The Institute of Metropolitan Studies (ICO) carries out research related the structure and development of urban conglomerates.
• The Institute of Human Development (IDH) performs research in education, communication and political issues.

The UNGS also created two organisations linked with the community: the Services Centre and the Cultural Centre, integrated by the Arts Centre and the Interactive Museum of Science, Technology and Society “Imaginario”.

Structure and study cycles  

The academic offer of the UNGS is based around activities of university entry, degrees and postgraduate degrees, that aims to work, in a functional and flexible structure made up of professionals capable of analysing and giving concrete answers to the contemporary problems, through permanent feedback between research and teaching.

The University Adaptation Course constitutes the initial activity, available to the hopeful entrants to the UNGS, and contemplates the developing of three subjects: Mathematics, Reading and Writing and a Science Workshop.

The degree training is structured in two cycles: The General University Cycle, of 5 semesters, that results in a University Diploma in General Studies and the body in charge of this is the Institute of Science. The General University Cycle offers five specialisations: Exact Science, Human Science, Social Science, Industrial Technology and Administration.

Due to the modular structure of the UNGS, on finishing the General University Cycle students have the possibility to confirm or modify the selection of their specialisation, because each specialisation has the possibility to access different degrees or teaching degrees for secondary school level.

The Degree Cycle operates in 5 semesters for the degrees, and in 3 semesters for the teaching degrees for secondary school level.

Its development is the responsibility of the following institutes: Human Development, Industry and Metropolitan Studies.

Presently, the UNGS offers degrees organised depending on the combinations of specialisations previously studied in the General University Cycle. Those are the following: Public Administration, Social Policy, Urban Ecology, Urbanism, Industrial Economics, Political Economics, Communication, Education, Political Studies, Cultural and Artistic Languages; Industrial Engineering and Technology of Manufacturing Engineering; and five teaching degrees for secondary school level: Mathematics, Physics, History, Philosophy and Economics.

At present, postgraduate activities are developed in order to complete the education offer. With which they try to facilitate the consolidation of teachers and researchers in relevant knowledge fields, and offer, as much to its entrants than those of other Argentine and foreign universities, spaces for the continuation of specialised studies with a professional or academic focus.

Academic offer

Postgraduate studies

• Doctorates: Doctorate in Social Science, Doctorate in Science and Technology
• Masters: Masters in Economics and Industrial Development Specialising in SMMEs; Masters in Science, Technology and Innovation Management; Masters in Social Economy; Masters in Social Science.
• Postgraduate Degree Specialisation: Postgraduate Degree Specialising in Local Development in Urban Regions; Postgraduate Degree Specialising in Science, Technology and Innovation Management.
• Postgraduate course: Postgraduate course in Local Development and Social Economics; Postgraduate course Ground Markets: Tools for public management theory

The research at the UNGS

One of the main objectives of the UNGS is the development of basic and applied research, for that reason the academic staff is made up by researchers-professors, which means that every professor develops research activities, which are those who organised the academic activities together.At present, the UNGS has around 150 researchers-professors, two thirds of whom are fully dedicated, and the remainder, semi-dedicated. Most of them have reached their position due to public and open competition; a large number of them are in the highest categories (Professors and Associates) and in the intermediate (Assistants).

The aim of research, as it is usual in other universities, is the production and sharing of knowledge; but in the UNGS, to that it adds the decision to do applied research and applicable to the economical and social development, emphasising in its reference area, the Buenos Aires Metropolitan region.

So, the research is based on the needs of interdisciplinary work, organised in areas and thematic lines, and it is carried out in one of each of the institutes.

The training of human resources to research is developed through incorporation of students to work in teams and through a scholarship program directed at advancing students and recent graduates who carry out their tasks in the different Institutes.

Services and relationships with the community

The services are used as a form of communication and create interaction between the university and the society, so, they are integrated with the research and training functions the UNGS assume.

This perspective of giving services to the community is one of the basic policies of the UNGS, as a mechanism to participate in the events and changes that operate in the society. The objectives are the following:

• Develop interaction with the community in relation to the activities that are executed by the institutes and university centres.
• Design proposals of projects, which integrate the efforts of the University with the social organisations.
• Re-evaluate the linking capacity with social sectors in a vulnerable situation.

The Services Centre is the institutional area through which these activities are done.

Cultural Centre

The diffusion of cultural activities is one of the activities in which the Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento emphasises. In order to do it the Centro Cultural has been created, and works as an independent branch, and it is where the three lines action converged.

• The Arts Centre, where courses, seminars, exhibition and all kinds of artistic and cultural initiatives are organised.
• The InteractiveMuseum of Science, Technology and Culture, aimed at children with the objective of introducing them to scientific thought through different experiments and participative activities.
• The Continuous Training Programme offers courses and seminars for professionals, technicians, professors, and to the formation of work in general.

Student Well being

The care and attention of their students is one of the UNGS’ priorities, and that shows in all areas:

• Having a complete scholarship system of economic help
• Giving scholarships for teaching and researching to advanced students and research scholarships to recently graduated students.
• Assisting graduates in their entry to the work arena and giving opportunities of previous experiences to the graduate through the participation of students in researches, services and interns.
• Offering personalised tutorial support, and each student can choose a tutor from the researchers and lecturing staff.
• Developing diverse programs related to the students well being, where the most recognised are the Reproduction Health Program, sport activities and job offers.
• Students can acquire volumes of special collections of Basic texts at lowered prices.

The university space

The main location of UNGS is the University Campus constitutes a large space where the research and teaching activities take place. The Campus follows a modular concept to allow for the growing necessities of the University. Its design uses the creation of green spaces as a way to integrate and provide places of exchange, study and recreation in the open air. The Campus has all the needed premises to teach the degrees in the UNGS, including complete Physics, Chemistry, Engineering and Communication labs, and the Geographic Information System Lab. You will also find the Library and Documentation Unit, that houses more than 30 thousand volumes, consisting of magazines and other specialised scientific publications. The library has more than one hundred reading places; many of them have internet access and a complete video library.