University of Costa Rica

University of Costa Rica represents the oldest and most extensive public university in Costa Rica. The main campus of the university exists in San Pedro de Montes de Oca, San José, where it operates a lively academic campus that features both expansive green areas and state-of-the-art research centers. UCR stands as a "Meritorious Institution of Costa Rican Education and Culture" while being recognized as the top research university throughout Central America. The university describes itself as a secular humanist institution which dedicates its work to social justice and public benefit while using Lucem Aspicio as its institutional motto which means "In search of the light" in Latin.

The university traces its historical origins back to the year 1843 when the University of Saint Thomas (Universidad de Santo Tomás) was founded. The Roman Catholic Church had close ties to the first educational institution which operated until 1888 when liberal reformers shut it down to make educational institutions more modern and non-religious. Costa Rica maintained its higher education system through independent professional schools which taught law, agronomy, fine arts and pharmacy for more than fifty years. The independent schools came together to create the University of Costa Rica on August 26, 1940 during President Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia's reformist government. The university has remained essential to national growth since it became a university because it existed as the only university in the country until the beginning of the 1970s.

Based on the QS World University Rankings of 2026, University of Costa Rica is positioned as the #499 top university in the world, which makes it the #1 top university in Costa Rica. The university's global rank decreased by 2 points from last year.