Founded as Cuba’s third university in 1952, Marta Abreu University of las Villas was created in response to demands for an institution in Santa Clara dating back to 1843.
It began with faculties of agriculture and humanities, but today claims to be Cuba’s most multidisciplinary university, with the 11,497 students it enrolled in 2017 spread across 12 faculties. The main Santa Clara campus is supplemented by the "Universidad de Montanas" in the Escombaray Mountains.
Recognised as a University of Excellence by the Ministry of Education in 2016, it has an explicit commitment to the Cuban revolution, proclaiming that "we bring results to the consolidation of the Cuban model" and a "focus on the construction of prosperous and sustainable socialism".
It played a notable part in that revolution, with Che Guevara basing himself in what is now the Science Building during a vital phase. A biennial conference focusses on Guevara, while the buildings were declared a National Monument in 2008.
As one of six Cuban universities taking part in the European Union’s Latin American FORINT programme, it has more than 200 international collaborative agreements and made internationalisation the main priority of its development plan for 2019-23.
The university recently became the site for the world’s first LC3 low-carbon chemical production plant, which produces eight-10 tons daily via methods which reduce carbon emissions.
At the same time as political and environmental concerns, it takes Cuban traditions of festivity seriously. The annual inter-faculty fiesta competition held in 2019 was won by the chemistry and pharmacy faculty's "Alice in the Museum of Nightmares".
