José Matías Delgado University

Dr. José Matías Delgado University (Spanish: Universidad Dr. José Matías Delgado, UJMD), is a private university located in Antiguo Cuscatlán, La Libertad, El Salvador. Founded on September 15, 1977, it is one of the first private institutions of higher education established in the country.

Named in honor of Salvadoran priest, lawyer, politician and national hero José Matías Delgado, La Matías was conceived as a nonprofit institution by Salvadoran intellectuals, academics and businessmen, the objective being of forming professionals with the capacity of improving and directing the business and judicial institutions of the time. Its intent from its foundation on 1977 has been to defend and develop free market principles.

By 1978 the University began its academic activities with three faculties: the "Dr. Isidro Menéndez" Faculty of Jurisprudence and Social Sciences; the "Dr. Santiago I. Barberena" Faculty of Economics and the "Francisco Gavidia" Faculty of General Culture and Fine Arts. Following the events of the Salvadoran Civil War, the University continued its activities despite the circumstances of the conflict, causing an increment in the demand of higher education at the time where new faculties and careers developed. It was geographically decentralized during its early years in San Salvador, but was brought together in a single location (the current campus, in the municipality of Antiguo Cuscatlán) in 1986. In 1992 the faculties of Agriculture and Engineering were created, and then in 1993 with the Faculty of Health Sciences. Between 2004 and 2005 a second campus was opened, transferring the Economics and Jurisprudence faculties mentioned before; and in 2008 another campus was established in the municipality of Soyapango by an agreement with the Padre Arrupe Foundation, becoming a specialized nursing school.