By The Star Staff
The University of Puerto Rico Arecibo campus has been ranked first on the list of best southern regional colleges for social mobility by U.S. News and World Report, UPR President Luis A. Ferrao Delgado announced Thursday.
“With great pride, we received the news that the Arecibo campus of the University of Puerto Rico (UPRA) was ranked first in the southern region of the United States in the category of ‘socially mobile colleges’ (universities that achieve social mobility in the communities they serve),” Ferrao said in a written statement.
U.S. News and World Report (www.usnews.com) established the classifications of public and private universities, Ferrao said.
“This specialized medium has carried out analysis and classifications since 1948,” he said. “As a result, the publication announced that 1,850 undergraduate educational institutions were considered and classified. The list is awaited with great expectation every year since it measures the performance of universities and their campuses in different categories and classifications. We are extremely proud of the performance of the Arecibo campus of our UPR system.”
Regarding the classification obtained by UPRA, Arecibo campus chancellor Carlos Andújar Rojas said it is an achievement thanks to a work plan that officials have been executing and that, without a doubt, has borne fruit.
“Thanks also to the commitment of all teachers, non-teaching staff, and students,” Andújar Rojas said. “In its 55 years of service, this facility has always been a tool for social mobility for thousands of citizens in this region and the rest of the island. This recognition reaffirms that work of service to our society that we wholly fulfill here at UPRA.”
In addition to the top ranking as a university that promotes social mobility, the UPR Arecibo campus ranks fifth in the general category of public universities in the southern region of the United States, which includes 12 states and Puerto Rico.
“Being the fifth-ranked public university is undoubtedly an achievement, but we are going for more, and we want to reach those four positions that we are missing, so we will continue the hard work so that UPRA becomes the main option for young people to start their university careers, and also for those who have already begun or have had to pause their studies,” Andújar Rojas said. “We have over 14 academic offerings of great diversity, tremendous demand in the world of work for those who qualify, and a body of excellent teachers.”
Andújar Rojas added that the Arecibo campus has highly recognized research programs and collaborative agreements with university centers in Latin America, Europe and the United States.
“We also have new virtual library facilities of the first order; all our classrooms have the technology for the benefit of students and teachers, in addition to standing out in sports and the arts,” he said.