2015 Yearbook -Universidad ORT Uruguay

3 MESSAGE FROM RECTOR . Jorge Grünberg I am pleased to share with you a summary of our university’s activities in 2015. While it is not possible to include the full range of activities carried out by our academic community, I hope that this yearbook will nonetheless give you a sense of the richness and variety of our institutional life. A multidisciplinary team composed of students, graduates, and faculty members from the schools of Architecture, Engineering, Business and Social Sciences, and Communication and Design designed and built the prototype of La Casa Uruguaya, which won first prize in the 2015 Solar Decathlon Latin America and the Caribbean, the world’s most important sustainable architecture competition. Our university is proud to have successfully participated with a project that seeks to provide housing solutions for low-income sectors and incorporates the use of renewable energy to help preserve the environment. In March 2015, the School of Engineering inaugurated a new building dedicated to the study and research of biotechnology, which houses five laboratories. In this space, students in the Engineering and Biotechnology programs acquire skills in the application of various methodologies and techniques, and a group of researchers develops joint projects with universities, research institutes, and companies, both in our country and abroad. The School of Business and Social Sciences was once again ranked among the top 30 in Latin America in the annual ranking by América Economía magazine and recognized as an Excellent Business School in the Eduniversal Business Schools Ranking 2015. On its 25th anniversary, the MBA program was reaccredited by AMBA (Association of MBAs), placing it among the top 5% of programs worldwide in terms of quality. In 2015, the faculty inaugurated the Ibero-American Chair of Human Rights and Education in partnership with the Organization of Ibero-American States. During 2015, 1,125 professionals graduated from our university. More than 40 faculty members and researchers at our university are classified as active researchers by the ANII. We maintain academic agreements with 164 universities and international organizations in 29 countries to promote academic exchange. This year, 125 international students took courses at our university, and 115 of our students spent semesters at universities in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Uruguay faces the great challenge of becoming a knowledge-based nation, more receptive to change and innovation, and open to the opportunities offered by the globalized world. True to our principles, we are committed to contributing to this national goal.