  thumb|300px|the headquarters of the uc. thumb|right|250px|inside casa central the pontifical catholic university of chile (uc or puc) () is one of the six catholic universities existing in the chilean university system and one of the two pontifical universities in the country, along with the pontifical catholic university of valparaÃ­so. it is also one of chile's oldest universities and one of the most recognized educational institutions in latin america. it ranks 1st in south america by qs ranking.http://www.usnews.com/education/worlds-best-universities-rankings/best-universities-in-latin-america ==campuses== uc has four campuses in santiago and one campus in villarrica. the campuses in santiago are: * casa central (in downtown santiago) * san joaquÃ­n (in macul commune of greater santiago) * oriente (in providencia commune of greater santiago) * lo contador (also in providencia commune) these four campuses have a total of 223,326.06 m2 constructed in a 614,569.92 m2 area. the villarrica campus has 1,664 m2 constructed in a 2,362.5 m2 area. ==history== uc was founded on june 21, 1888 by the santiago archbishop, to offer training in traditional professions (law) and in technological and practical fields such as business, accounting, chemistry, and electricity. its first chancellor was monsignor joaquÃ­n larraÃ­n gandarillas, and at the very beginning, the university only taught two subjects, law and mathematics. since it is a pontifical university
1888_establishments_in_Chile Educational_institutions_established_in_1888 Pontifical_universities Roman_Catholic_Church_in_South_America Roman_Catholic_universities_and_colleges_in_Chile Universitas_21 Universities_in_Chile Universities_in_Santiago_Metropolitan_Region