Universidad del Norte, Paraguay

The Universidade del Norte, or the University of the North, was set up in 1991 and its motto is “quality, science and culture”.

It is located in the medium-sized city of Asunción, in Paraguay, and has faculties in health sciences, chemistry, medicine, law, economics and business, engineering, education and human sciences. It is home to Paraguay’s first faculty of postgraduate study, as well as 13 community faculties and 40 buildings.

On-campus facilities include 23 research libraries, the largest multimedia collection in the Mercosur region, 47 laboratories and clinics with state-of-the-art faculties. There is also a university art gallery.

The faculty of medicine at the Universidade del Norte is the only university in Paraguay with a Nobel Prize in Medicine. Professor Louis J. Ignarro won the prize in 2000, for his discovery that nitric oxide is a signalling molecule of the cardiovascular system. Some 250,000 local residents are also patients at the university’s medical facilities.

The Universidade del Norte Paraguay has set up 70 international exchange agreements and programmes across the world.

Asunción is Paraguay’s capital city and is home to over 2.5 million people. Bordered by the Paraguay river, it is made of sprawling suburbs and a city centre filled with colonial, beaux arts buildings and shady plazas.

It is famous for the López Palace, which is the government building and president’s offices. There is also the National Pantheon of Heroes, with a mausoleum and plaques to commemorate famous Paraguayan historical figures and the Independence House Museum, which is also a classical colonial building. Contrary to its heavy traffic and diesel fumes, Asunción is actually one of the lusher and well-liked capitals in South America.