The University of Havana, or UH (Universidad de La Habana in Spanish), is a university in Havana, Cuba's capital, located in the Vedado neighbourhood.The institution, established on January 5, 1728, is the oldest in Cuba and one of the first in the Americas (the oldest, National University of San Marcos, was founded in Lima in 1551).

The University of Havana began as a Catholic institution and has now grown to include 15 faculties (colleges) on its Havana campus as well as distant learning facilities throughout Cuba.

University of Havana Student Organizations

Prior to the 1959 Cuban Revolution, students joined a variety of organizations, either directly or indirectly associated with a political party. The most influential of these organizations was the FEU (Federación Estudiantil Universitaria, or University Students Federation), which was created in the 1920s by Julio Antonio Mella, a co-founder of the Cuban Communist Party. Because of the European revolutionary tradition of college-based political activism, which was practised in Cuba and many other Latin American countries at the time, and the alleged corruption of Cuban political parties at the time, the FEU, a stronghold of communist ideology, became the most influential of Cuban political organizations before 1959.It was instrumental in the overthrow of Cuban President Gerardo Machado. The FEU was the primary force behind the countrywide general strike of 1933, which resulted in the imprisonment of many of its members. While exiled in Mexico, founder Julio Antonio Mella was slain in 1929 by two assassins recruited by Machado. After Fulgencio Batista's coup d'état in 1952, when free and democratic elections were halted, the violent clashes between university students and Cuban police reached unprecedented heights. Students suspected of being FEU members were tortured and slain in Havana's streets, causing the organization to initiate an irregular war in the city, particularly targeted at assassinating high-ranking police officers, Blanco Rico, Havana's police chief, was assassinated by four FEU members. Despite conflicts amongst the commanders over how the revolution should be carried out, the FEU became an ally of Fidel Castro's new July 26 Movement during the assault on the Moncada barracks. Castro was a lawyer who graduated from the Havana University School of Law and had connections with the FEU. The FEU, led by Jose Antonio Echeverria, attempted to assassinate Fulgencio Batista in an armed attack on the Cuban Presidential Palace on March 13, 1957, when Fidel Castro was hiding in the Sierra Maestra mountains. Batista was able to leave, but six student assailants, including Echeverria, were slain in the process. In the months that followed, the authorities executed several of the students who led the failed insurrection. President Batista closed the University, and it remained closed until Fidel Castro captured Havana in January 1959, when Batista left the country.

University of Havana Organization

The University of Havana contains 16 faculties (Spanish: facultades) and 14 research centres in a variety of fields such as economics, sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Up to 25 distinct specializations are available at the institution. Over 60,000-degree students are now enrolled in regular programmes. The University is divided into 16 faculties, which are as follows:

• Natural Sciences

  • Faculty of Biology

  • Faculty of Pharmacy and Foods

  • Faculty of Physics

  • Faculty of Geography

  • Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science

  • Faculty of Psychology

  • Faculty of Chemistry

• Social Sciences and Humanities

  • Faculty of Arts and Letters

  • Faculty of Communication

  • Faculty of Law

  • Faculty of Philosophy, History, and Sociology

  • Faculty of Foreign Languages

• Economic Sciences

  • Faculty of Accounting and Finance

  • Faculty of Economics

  • Faculty of Tourism

• Distance Education

University of Havana History

It was once known as the Real and Pontificia Universidad San Gerónimo de la Habana (in English Royal and Pontifical University of Saint Jerome of Havana). Universities needed royal or papal sanction to be created at the time, thus the names Real and Pontificia. Pope Innocent XIII and King Philip V of Spain were the two people who gave their sanction to the University. In 1842, the University's status was changed to that of a secular, royal, and literary institution. When Cuba became a free republic, it was called Real y Literaria Universidad de La Habana (in English, Royal and Literary University of Havana) and later Universidad Nacional de La Habana (in English, National University).On May 1, 1902, the institution was relocated to a hill in Havana's Vedado neighbourhood from San Juan de Letrán (located in Villa de San Cristóbal in Old Havana). The interiors of the building were designed by Armando Menocal y Menocal. The seven frescos symbolize Medicine, Science, Art, Thought, Liberal Arts, Literature, and Law. At the main campus entrance, a bronze statue of Alma Mater (Latin for "nourishing mother") stands (seen above). It was built in 1919 by sculptor Mario Korbel, who was inspired by the Daniel Chester French memorial at Columbia University in New York City. Feliciana "Chana" Villalón, 16, was the statue's face model. She is the daughter of José Ramón Villalón y Sánchez, a University professor of analytical mathematics. Chana later married Juan Manuel Menocal, the Dean of the Business School (a distant relative of Armando Menocal). Juan Manuel Menocal was a lecturer at the law school when Fidel Castro was a student there in the 1940s. Maria Rosa Menocal, Chana and Juan Manuel Menocal's granddaughter, was the previous Director of Yale's Whitney Humanities Center. (See Eduardo Heras León's Alma Mater Witness of Time.) Later the same year, in 1936, the main library "Rubén Martnez Villena" was built. Following the seizure of the government by Fulgencio Batista in 1952, the University became a hotspot of anti-government demonstrations. Batista declared the institution closed in 1956. From January 1, 1959, when Fidel Castro assumed control of Cuba, through January 1, 1962, the University underwent remodelling in order to remove "anti-revolutionary views." In 2002, Rutgers University–Camden and the University of Havana signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to formalize research and exchange opportunities for students and faculty.