INTRODUCTION The National University of La Pampa is almost 50 years old Its work began in 1958, when the necessities of the region for a higher education institution, derived into a real possibility for the province of La Pampa to impel its own house of studies The undergraduate degrees of Agronomy and Economic Sciences were the first ones launched to respond to the academic needs of the young people of those days. As time went by, other necessities forged the growth and consolidation of the University, which became national in 1973. Nowadays, the University have two campuses, one in Santa Rosa, where four academic colleges work: Agronomy, Humanities, Natural and Fundamental Sciences, and Economic Science and Law The other campus is located in General Pico, where a variety of degrees can be studied in the different colleges: Veterinary Sciences, Engineering and Humanities Both campuses are strategically located to provide high education to students of the provinces of La Pampa, Buenos Aires, Cordoba, and San Luis, Mendoza and the Patagonian provinces. PROGRAMMES AND PAPERS Due to the University s holistic view of knowledge, graduates are able to work in the most diverse of the private and public areas or can dedicate their time to the research and education fields. The undergraduate programmes of the National University of La Pampa contribute to the provincial and regional development trough the education of professionals in three main areas: Education, Production and Services. EDUCATION AREA The University provides educational formation for the different levels of the educational system. The programmes of Basic Level Teaching, 1º and 2º EGB and the Teaching of Education Sciences can be studied at the Humanities Collage in General Pico.
In order to dictate classes in the medium level and polimodal, the Teaching Programmes in Geography, History, English and Language Studies are offered in the Humanities College of Santa Rosa While in the Natural and Fundamental Sciences College, the teaching programmes in Chemistry, Mathematical, Physical, Biological and Computation Sciences can be studied In all the cases, bachelor degrees are offered in these areas for a higher education formation PRODUCTION AREA The diversity of the ecological and natural resources areas in La Pampa, and the regions that surround the province, are a challenge for our current and future graduates The programmes of Agronomy Engineering, the Bachelor Degree in Administration of Farming Businesses and Veterinary Medicine form professionals to take care of the problematic over the farming production. In Addition, as an area of strategic formation, the UNLPam offers degrees related to the conservation and exploitation of the natural resources such as the Bachelor Degree in Geology and Engineering in Natural Resources and Environment at the College of Natural and Fundamental Sciences. The Engineering College, in General Pico, offers the programmes on Electromechanical Engineering and Engineering in Systems. SERVICES AREA The UNLPam also provides alternatives destined to the fortification of the economy services area. Public Accountancy and Law are programmes offered at the College of Economic Sciences and Law, while the Programmer Analyst degree and the Teaching Programme in Computation at the College of Natural and Fundamental Sciences. The National University of La Pampa works to expand its academic horizons and reinforces the relations with other universities as complement of the integral process of high academic education. For this reason offers students and teachers/researchers, from this university and from foreign universities to participate in joint programmes.
The UNLPam has a differentiating academic proposal in comparison to other institutions. In this sense, the programmes of Agronomy Engineering, Veterinary and Engineering in Natural Resources and Environment expound the debate on current and complex topics. POSTGRADUATE STUDIES The necessity of a continuous education, nowadays, is part of the normal process of the exercise of the profession. The UNLPam offers to graduated students, a variety of postgraduate degrees in many areas of knowledge like physics, chemistry, social and cultural studies, law, management and administration. The UNLPam offers the Master Degree in Hydric Sciences understanding the crucial importance that it has been having for years the protection, the suitable use and the management of the hydric resources. In Argentina, there are other two postgraduate degrees related with this topic, but only marginally alludes to the hydrology of the arid and semi-arid regions of the country. The Magister in Hydric Sciences graduated will be characterized for being an expert on the applicable technological resources of the hydric resources and its implementation from a critical point of view, with special focus on the regional socioeconomic development in harmony with the basic principles of environmental sustainability. SERVICES The University promotes the equality of opportunities in the access to the higher studies and for the permanence of the students in the system. In order to guarantee this concept it makes available of the students a set of services: Scholarships, restaurants, accommodation, a preventive program of health, service of integral psycho pedagogical support, vocational orientation, transport, libraries, sports and leisure The university assigns an important part of its budget to the program of scholarships whose main objective is to support students of scarce economic resources. There are different kinds of scholarships granted each year, according to the different socioeconomic needs of the student: scholarships for restaurant, for student accommodation, and for economic aid, among others The university residences count with 48 places in each one of the two campuses. They are four-person, modern and fully-equipped houses.
From March to December the university community provides the service of restaurant, at very economic prices. In its own facilities or through system of takeaways, the lunch from Monday through Friday is guaranteed with a nutritious and balanced fixed menu. In the General Pico campus, the service is provided for lunch and supper. This university has a Health Preventive Program whose purpose is to diagnose the health of the students when enrolling the university and to take the necessary measures to improve the quality of the health of all students. The students who do not count on welfare medical cover benefit can benefit with an agreement with the Public Health Centers of the Province of La Pampa that allow the student to be taken care of in all the centers of health of the province and provide them with medicine provision. The UNLPam also counts with an omnibus fleet that offers a free transport service from the center of Santa Rosa to the campus of the university, where the Colleges of Agronomy and Natural and Fundamental Sciences are located. The bibliographical material that is used during the study is available at the central library, or at each college library. In addition, access to virtual libraries and published material in other universities of the country is offered. Depending on the availability, the student can use the material in our reading rooms or lend the material in loan. SPORTS AND LEISURE recreational activities have been organized to preserve the physical and mental health of the students. Soccer, basketball, volleyball and gymnasiums are part of the services provided. Theater and choir workshops in Santa Rosa and folkloric dances in General Pico are an alternative for the students, but also for the entire community. FINAL WORDS The National University of La Pampa belongs to the national and public system of high education The tuition is free, and there is no admission exam
The university is an autonomous institution. Its students, teachers, clerical workers and graduates democratically participate in the election of authorities and of the cogovernment bodies The project of the National University of La Pampa has as historical objective: to take a permanent leading role in the history of the province and the region, and specially in the history of people; in the young people who recognize that to study it is an irreplaceable alternative for their own development and a contribution to the community to which they belong.