Universidad Católica Cecilio Acosta

The Universidad Católica Cecilio Acosta (UNICA; English: Cecilio Acosta Catholic University) is a private Catholic university located in Maracaibo, Zulia state, Venezuela. The university was founded on 1 September 1983 by Monsignor Gustavo Ocando Yamarte and is named in honour of the 19th-century Venezuelan writer, journalist and jurist Cecilio Acosta. UNICA is owned by the Archdiocese of Maracaibo and describes itself as Catholic, private, non-profit, democratic, experimental, autonomous, innovative and dynamic. It is a member of the Asociación Venezolana de Educación Católica (AVEC), the Venezuelan association of Catholic education.

History

The university was established in 1983 in Maracaibo on the initiative of Monsignor Gustavo Ocando Yamarte, a priest of the Archdiocese of Maracaibo and pioneer of several Catholic cultural and educational works in Zulia, including the Niños Cantores del Zulia cultural complex. The institution's founding chancellor was Monsignor Domingo Roa Pérez, then Archbishop of Maracaibo, and its first rector was Wíntila Pérez Romero.

The university was placed under the patronage of Cecilio Acosta (1818–1881), a Venezuelan writer of the second half of the 19th century. It was conceived as a Catholic centre of higher education providing undergraduate and graduate teaching to the public of Zulia state and the wider Venezuelan western region.

For the 2014–2018 rectoral period, Ángel Lombardi continued as Rector, with María Mercedes Rodríguez as Academic Vice-Rector and Ginette Gutiérrez as Secretary, the latter having previously served as Dean of the Faculty of Social Communication Sciences. After the end of Lombardi's term, chancellor Monsignor José Luis Azuaje appointed Father Eduardo Ortigoza as Rector, accompanied by Gerardo Salas as Vice-Rector and Ginette Gutiérrez as Secretary.

Academics

UNICA offers undergraduate and graduate programmes, organised in four faculties.

Faculty of Philosophy and Theology

• Philosophy
• Theology

Faculty of Arts and Music

• Music
• Music, specialisation in Musicology
• Plastic Arts
• Arts, specialisation in Museology
• Arts, specialisation in Graphic Design

Faculty of Educational Sciences

• Education, specialisation in Language and Literature
• Education, specialisation in Social Sciences
• Education, specialisation in Integral Studies

Faculty of Social Communication Sciences

• Social Communication, specialisation in Social Development
• University Higher Technician (TSU) in Audiovisual Arts

The university also offers a number of graduate especializaciones (specialisations) and maestrías (masters) administered by the Vice-Rectorate for Postgraduate Studies.

Campus and student body

The main campus of UNICA is located in the Urbanización La Paz neighbourhood of Maracaibo. The campus mascot is the owl, and the institutional colours are light blue and grey.

UNICA has a student population of approximately 5,000. A majority of these students follow their studies through the university's multimodal (blended and distance) learning platform, and are distributed across the national territory.

Among the institution's most prominent cultural activities is the Feria del Libro UNICA (UNICA Book Fair), an annual book fair organised by the university for several years, with the participation of more than thirty publishing houses and international guests.

See also

• List of universities in Venezuela
• Catholic Church in Venezuela
• Education in Venezuela
• Cecilio Acosta