Universidad de la Serena
Logo: Universidad de La Serena, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
1,843 people started an undergraduate programme at Universidad de la Serena in 2026, the 35th largest intake of Chile's 50 universities, and 8,112 were enrolled there in all. Twenty years of it, 2007–2026, followed by the masked student id from school to title.
University · Enrolling in 2026 · main campus region: Coquimbo
At a glance
2026- Enrolled 2026
- 7,837
- First year 2026
- 1,843
- Titles 2025
- 1,098
Largest fields: engineering and industry, business and law, education.
- Enrolled 2026
- 211
- of them in a doctorate
- 99 · 47%
- First year 2026
- 62
- Titles 2025
- 46
2.7 postgraduate students per 100 undergraduates (universities: 7.3).
- Projects 2015–2024
- 153
- Among universities
- 29 of 49
- Fondecyt
- 89
Most specialised in: astronomy, cosmology and particles, engineering 1, engineering 3.
Entrants, enrolment and titles
2007–2026Three counts of the same institution. Undergraduate enrolment is everyone enrolled that year, in any year of their programme; first-year entrants are the people who started; titles are the undergraduate titles and degrees it awarded.
What you can study here
2026 · mifuturo.clEvery generic programme with a page of its own that took first-year entrants here in 2026, with its campuses and list fee from Mineduc's register, and what SIES publishes on mifuturo.cl for this institution and programme: employment the year after the title, the band of the monthly income in the fourth year, and first-year retention. Each programme's name opens what this institution's own students say about it — who stays, who graduates, how long it takes — next to the programme across the country.
The first-year dropout column is PuroChile's own count on Mineduc's register: of everyone who started the programme here in 2023–2025, the share enrolled at no institution at all the following year — the three cohorts added up, never an average of three rates — beside the same programme across Chile. Changing programme or institution is not dropping out, and some who drop out come back later. “—” is a programme with fewer than 30 entrants here in those years. Across all its undergraduate programmes, 5.5% of the 5,149 people who started here in 2023–2025 were enrolled nowhere the following year; across every university programme, 8.1%.
| Programme | Entrants 2026 | Campuses | Yearly fee | Dropout, year 1 · 2023–2025 | Same programme, Chile | Employed, year 1 | Income, year 4 | Retention, year 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ingeniería Civil Industrial | 110 | 1 | $4.6 M | 2.3% | 5.0% | 79.7% | $1.9–2.0 M | 82.4% |
| Ingeniería Civil en Computación e Informática | 87 | 1 | $4.6 M | 2.9% | 6.1% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Ingeniería Civil en Minas | 84 | 1 | $4.6 M | 3.4% | 7.6% | 91.2% | $2.5–3.0 M | 81.4% |
| Ingeniería en Minas | 82 | 1 | $4.6 M | 8.4% | 20.4% | 80.0% | $2.0–2.1 M | 73.0% |
| Ingeniería Mecánica | 75 | 1 | $4.6 M | 16.6% | 16.9% | 81.7% | n/a | 61.5% |
| Derecho | 74 | 1 | $4.8 M | 5.3% | 7.4% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Ingeniería Civil Mecánica | 71 | 1 | $4.6 M | 5.1% | 9.5% | 75.8% | n/a | 72.4% |
| Arquitectura | 69 | 1 | $4.6 M | 4.9% | 6.7% | 70.0% | $1.5–1.6 M | 85.7% |
| Ingeniería Civil, plan común y licenciatura en Ciencias de la Ingeniería | 68 | 1 | $4.6 M | 8.3% | 3.6% | 89.9% | n/a | 77.8% |
| Ingeniería en Construcción | 61 | 1 | $4.6 M | 4.0% | 16.2% | 80.8% | n/a | 88.9% |
| Contador Auditor | 60 | 1 | $2.9 M | 3.8% | 14.2% | 75.0% | n/a | 81.7% |
| Kinesiología | 59 | 1 | $4.8 M | 5.1% | 7.0% | 54.9% | n/a | 89.3% |
| Administración Pública | 57 | 1 | $4.4 M | 4.1% | 13.5% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Ingeniería Comercial | 57 | 1 | $4.6 M | 3.9% | 7.3% | 49.3% | $1.2–1.3 M | 95.1% |
| Psicología | 53 | 1 | $4.3 M | 1.4% | 6.8% | 75.7% | $1.1–1.2 M | 98.1% |
| Química y Farmacia | 53 | 1 | $4.8 M | — | 3.6% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Periodismo | 52 | 1 | $4.4 M | 1.9% | 5.1% | 55.6% | $1.2–1.3 M | 89.5% |
| Administración de Empresas e Ing. Asociadas | 45 | 1 | $4.1 M | 4.9% | 20.4% | 55.9% | n/a | 81.6% |
| Odontología | 45 | 1 | $7.1 M | 0.6% | 4.1% | 72.8% | n/a | 93.3% |
| Química, Licenciado en Química | 45 | 1 | $4.1 M | 11.1% | 5.8% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Ingeniería Civil Ambiental | 42 | 1 | $4.6 M | 10.2% | 11.7% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Pedagogía en Idiomas | 41 | 1 | $3.5 M | 4.0% | 6.9% | 68.4% | n/a | 79.2% |
| Ingeniería en Biotecnología y Bioingeniería | 40 | 1 | $4.6 M | 7.3% | 7.1% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Física y Astronomía | 39 | 1 | $4.1 M | 9.3% | 10.8% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Medicina | 38 | 1 | $7.4 M | — | 1.3% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Diseño | 37 | 1 | $4.1 M | 3.8% | 4.5% | 45.3% | n/a | 84.1% |
| Pedagogía en Lenguaje, Comunicación y/o Castellano | 37 | 1 | $3.5 M | 3.2% | 6.7% | 83.8% | n/a | 94.5% |
| Enfermería | 34 | 1 | $4.3 M | 4.0% | 5.3% | 89.9% | n/a | 79.4% |
| Pedagogía en Matemáticas y Computación | 34 | 1 | $3.5 M | 4.9% | 7.3% | 91.1% | n/a | 73.3% |
| Pedagogía en Educación Básica | 32 | 2 | $3.5 M | 3.4% | 5.6% | 93.1% | $1.1–1.2 M | 94.5% |
| Pedagogía en Historia, Geografía y Ciencias Sociales | 32 | 1 | $3.5 M | 9.2% | 8.8% | 78.7% | n/a | 80.0% |
| Pedagogía en Educación Diferencial | 29 | 1 | $3.5 M | 4.6% | 4.8% | 90.6% | n/a | 90.5% |
| Traducción e Interpretación | 26 | 1 | $3.6 M | 7.1% | 17.3% | 31.3% | n/a | 90.6% |
| Música, Canto o Danza | 23 | 1 | $4.1 M | 6.8% | 16.9% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Pedagogía en Artes y Música | 21 | 1 | $3.5 M | 7.2% | 10.0% | 87.3% | n/a | 75.7% |
| Pedagogía en Educación de Párvulos | 20 | 1 | $3.5 M | 2.1% | 6.2% | 49.2% | n/a | 90.2% |
| Magister en Administración y Comercio | 19 | 1 | $2.5 M | — | 15.8% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Magister en Ciencias Básicas | 12 | 1 | $2.4 M | 14.7% | 13.6% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Pedagogía en Ciencias | 11 | 1 | $3.5 M | 4.2% | 7.0% | 90.9% | n/a | 73.2% |
| Doctorado en Ciencias Básicas | 10 | 1 | $3.9 M | — | 11.0% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Magister en Humanidades | 9 | 1 | $2.7 M | — | 14.6% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Doctorado en Tecnología | 6 | 1 | $4.1 M | — | 11.8% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Employment and income are SIES's own figures for this institution, published only where at least eleven graduates could be matched to a tax return; “n/a” is a figure SIES did not publish. Incomes are gross, in pesos of September 2025.
What it teaches
2026Everyone enrolled in an undergraduate programme here in 2026, 7,837 enrolments, by CINE-F field and SIES generic programme. Each tile is a programme and its area is its share; click a field's band to open it, or a tile to see that programme across the country.
Mean annual list fee of its undergraduate enrolment: $4,367,000 (universities: $5,901,000). It is the published price of each programme averaged over the students enrolled in it, not what each one pays: free tuition (gratuidad), scholarships and loans are not subtracted.
By SIES's generic programme, largest intake first. Only programmes that reached 10 entrants here in some year are listed; the rest are added together at the end. The change compares the first three years with the last three and is only given where both average at least 20 entrants.
12 more, and every other programme
| Pedagogía en Lenguaje, Comunicación y/o Castellano | 37 | 227 | $3,539,000 | +8% | |
| Diseño | 37 | 200 | $4,068,000 | −8% | |
| Pedagogía en Matemáticas y Computación | 34 | 137 | $3,476,000 | −46% | |
| Enfermería | 34 | 176 | $4,264,000 | −29% | |
| Pedagogía en Educación Básica | 32 | 240 | $3,539,000 | −34% | |
| Pedagogía en Historia, Geografía y Ciencias Sociales | 32 | 192 | $3,539,000 | +11% | |
| Pedagogía en Educación Diferencial | 29 | 169 | $3,539,000 | −15% | |
| Traducción e Interpretación | 26 | 118 | $3,637,000 | — | |
| Música, Canto o Danza | 23 | 84 | $4,127,000 | −4% | |
| Pedagogía en Artes y Música | 21 | 142 | $3,539,000 | −19% | |
| Pedagogía en Educación de Párvulos | 20 | 178 | $3,539,000 | −4% | |
| Pedagogía en Ciencias | 11 | 96 | $3,487,000 | −64% |
6 programmes it no longer opens
| Agronomía | 0 | 84 | $4,133,000 | — | |
| Ingeniería en Alimentos | 0 | 40 | $4,227,000 | — | |
| Ingeniería en Computación e Informática | 0 | 98 | $4,166,000 | — | |
| Analista Químico | 0 | — | — | — | |
| Administración Turística y Hotelera | 0 | — | — | — | |
| Matemática y/o Estadística | 0 | 2 | $3,738,000 | — |
Who studies here
undergraduate · 2026Its undergraduate enrolment of 2026, each split drawn over the same split for all universities. Every bar is a share of its own total, so the two can be compared whatever their size. How the first year came in is the institution's own declaration to SIES.
Where its entrants come from
2024–2026The comuna of their school, not of their home. First-year entrants of 2024–2026, followed by their masked id to the last time they finished secondary school before starting. Mineduc publishes no home address, and the school is where four years of their education happened. 5,316 of 5,361 (99.2%) have such a record since 2006; the rest — who left school earlier, studied abroad or validated their studies — are not placed.
85.7% finished school in Coquimbo, the region of its main campus.
| La Serena | 2,326 | 43.8% |
| Coquimbo | 1,159 | 21.8% |
| Ovalle | 531 | 10.0% |
| Vallenar | 179 | 3.4% |
| Vicuña | 140 | 2.6% |
| Copiapó | 121 | 2.3% |
| Calama | 108 | 2.0% |
| Monte Patria | 83 | 1.6% |
| Andacollo | 71 | 1.3% |
| Combarbalá | 47 | 0.9% |
| Diego de Almagro | 46 | 0.9% |
| Salamanca | 44 | 0.8% |
36 more comunas
Illapel 34 · Canela 31 · Antofagasta 30 · Los Vilos 25 · Punitaqui 25 · Iquique 17 · Chañaral 17 · Huasco 17 · Alto Hospicio 16 · Caldera 16 · Taltal 14 · Paihuano 14 · Río Hurtado 14 · Arica 13 · La Higuera 11 · Freirina 9 · Alto del Carmen 8 · Punta Arenas 6 · Puente Alto 6 · Rancagua 5 · Maipú 5 · San Pedro de Atacama 4 · Tocopilla 4 · María Elena 4 · Los Andes 4 · Machalí 4 · Santiago 4 · Isla de Pascua 3 · San Felipe 3 · Talca 3 · Temuco 3 · Villarrica 3 · Aysén 3 · Natales 3 · La Florida 3 · Providencia 3
61 more comunas sent fewer than 3 each, together 77 entrants; they are not named.
How they chose it
DEMRE · 2021–2026Centralised admission only. DEMRE's register of the universities in the national admission system: every preference of every regular applicant, and who enrolled through it. Direct admission — the way most people enter an institute or a CFT, and some university programmes — is not in it. In 2026, 3,937 applicants put a programme of Universidad de la Serena as their first choice and 9,937 included one somewhere on their list.
The order of the programme they enrolled in, on the list they applied with.
PAES scale, which starts in 2023; the years before are another test on another scale and are not drawn. Each bar is a share of its own entrants.
Who is still here a year later
cohorts 2007–2025Each year's first-year entrants, followed into the next year's register: still enrolled here (in any programme), enrolled at another institution, or not enrolled anywhere. It is SIES's first-year retention, counted on the published register; a cohort under 30 people has no rate.
Who graduates, and when
titles 2007–2025Each cohort of first-year entrants followed into the register of titles: the share with an undergraduate title from this institution, by years since they started. A recent cohort has a short line, not a low one — the register only goes to 2025. A title is any undergraduate title or degree, including the intermediate ones some programmes award on the way; the register does not tell them apart.
Horizontal axis: years since entry (0 is the year they started).
1,616 people started here in 2015. "Titled elsewhere" is a title from any other institution and no title from this one: someone who changed institution and finished there.
How long it really takes
titles 2023–2025Undergraduate titles of 2023–2025 in regular plans: the time from the start of the semester they entered (March or August) to the date of the title, in semesters, against the formal length the institution declares. Special and continuation plans are left out, because they take in people with earlier studies whose clock did not start at entry. 3,555 of 3,581 titles have the dates to be measured.
| Generic programme (SIES) | Titles | Formal, years | Real, years | On time | Real in Chile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Odontología | 219 | 6.0 | 7.8 | 18% | 7.5 |
| Ingeniería Comercial | 180 | 5.0 | 7.5 | 37% | 6.1 |
| Ingeniería en Construcción | 169 | 5.0 | 8.4 | 1% | 6.1 |
| Arquitectura | 162 | 5.0 | 11.2 | 0% | 7.4 |
| Ingeniería Civil Mecánica | 150 | 6.0 | 8.3 | 18% | 7.9 |
| Ingeniería Mecánica | 148 | 4.0 | 7.9 | 4% | 6.6 |
| Periodismo | 144 | 5.0 | 6.3 | 11% | 5.7 |
| Ingeniería en Minas | 137 | 4.0 | 7.4 | 1% | 6.0 |
| Ingeniería Civil en Minas | 131 | 6.0 | 8.4 | 18% | 7.9 |
| Ingeniería Civil Industrial | 129 | 6.0 | 8.3 | 9% | 6.9 |
| Administración de Empresas e Ing. Asociadas | 120 | 4.5 | 5.2 | 63% | 5.0 |
| Contador Auditor | 118 | 4.0 | 5.6 | 3% | 5.3 |
| Enfermería | 114 | 5.0 | 6.6 | 25% | 6.0 |
| Ingeniería Civil, plan común y licenciatura en Ciencias de la Ingeniería | 105 | 6.0 | 8.9 | 7% | 7.9 |
| Pedagogía en Educación Básica | 103 | 4.9 | 5.5 | 62% | 5.4 |
| Psicología | 100 | 5.0 | 5.7 | 57% | 5.7 |
| Pedagogía en Educación Diferencial | 96 | 4.9 | 5.5 | 64% | 5.2 |
| Kinesiología | 94 | 5.0 | 7.2 | 6% | 6.1 |
| Derecho | 93 | 5.0 | 8.5 | 0% | 8.4 |
| Ingeniería Civil Ambiental | 87 | 6.0 | 8.7 | 7% | 7.7 |
Programmes with at least ten titles in the three years. Years are means over every title, formal and real alike; "on time" is the share titled within the formal length. The last column is the same generic programme at every institution in Chile.
Where its campuses are
2 communes · 2026Where it teaches, not where its students are from. First-year entrants of 2026 by the commune of the campus they enrolled at.
Postgraduate
2007–2026First year of a master's or a doctorate, and everyone enrolled in one. At this level the register classifies into broad fields, not programmes.
Where its postgraduate students did their undergraduate degree
Postgraduate entrants of 2024–2026, followed back to their most recent undergraduate title. 111 of 148 (75.0%) have one in the register, which starts in 2007; the rest graduated earlier or abroad, which is not the same as having no degree. Of those found, 76.6% graduated here (universities: 29.0% stay at their own).
Left, where each entrant took their last undergraduate title; right, the postgraduate field they started here. Ribbon width is people. Only the eight largest institutions are named; the rest, and any contributing fewer than three people, are added into «other institutions».
| Undergraduate institution | People | % |
|---|---|---|
| Universidad de la Serena (itself) | 85 | 57.4% |
| Universidad Central de Chile | 5 | 3.4% |
| Universidad de Concepcion | 4 | 2.7% |
| Universidad Santo Tomas | 3 | 2.0% |
| Other institutions | 14 | 9.5% |
| No undergraduate title in the register (before 2007 or abroad) | 37 | 25.0% |
Where its graduates go on to a postgraduate degree
People with an undergraduate title from here in 2010–2021, followed forward to the first master's or doctorate they started, anywhere, up to 2026. 1,069 of 10,129 (10.6%) started one (universities: 9.9%); 18.1% of them here.
Left, the field of the undergraduate title they took here; right, the institution where they started a master's or a doctorate in Chile. Ribbon width is people. Only the ten largest destinations are named; the rest, and any receiving fewer than three people, are added into «other institutions».
| Postgraduate institution | People | % |
|---|---|---|
| Universidad de la Serena (itself) | 194 | 18.1% |
| Universidad Central de Chile | 176 | 16.5% |
| Universidad Andres Bello | 132 | 12.3% |
| Universidad de Chile | 67 | 6.3% |
| Universidad Catolica del Norte | 46 | 4.3% |
| Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile | 44 | 4.1% |
| Universidad Adolfo Ibañez | 43 | 4.0% |
| Universidad Mayor | 28 | 2.6% |
| Universidad Finis Terrae | 28 | 2.6% |
| Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria | 28 | 2.6% |
| Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso | 26 | 2.4% |
| Universidad Santo Tomas | 23 | 2.2% |
Research
ANID · 2006–2025The projects ANID (CONICYT until 2019) awarded with Universidad de la Serena as principal institution — the one that answers for the project. Each figure is a count of awarded projects: not publications, not money, not people, and a project with partners counts once, here. The year is the year it was decided.
Projects awarded each year
By OECD area · 2015–2024
By ANID programme · 2015–2024
What it is specialised in: Fondecyt's study groups
Its Fondecyt projects of 2015–2024, by the panel each was evaluated in. Specialisation is Balassa's revealed advantage: the group's share here over its share in Chile; above 1, it weighs more here than in the country.
| Study group | Its projects declare mostly | Projects | % | Specialisation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Astronomy, cosmology and particles | astronomia cosmologia y particulas, astronomia and gravitacion y cosmologia | 22 | 24.7 | 5.00 |
| Engineering 1 | ingenieria de materiales, ingenieria mecanica and ingenieria hidraulica | 15 | 16.9 | 3.87 |
| Engineering 3 | ingenieria quimica, procesamiento y tecnologia de alimentos and bioingenieria | 14 | 15.7 | 3.86 |
| Biology 1 | ecologia y ciencias ambientales, genetica y evolucion and biologia marina | 14 | 15.7 | 3.75 |
| Linguistics and literature | linguistica literatura y filologia, linguistica and literatura chilena | 7 | 7.9 | 2.23 |
| Geography and urbanism | geografia y urbanismo, geografia fisica and geografia humana y cultural | 2 | 2.2 | 1.02 |
| Education | pedagogia y educacion, formacion inicial and didactica especifica | 3 | 3.4 | 0.62 |
| Mathematics | analisis, ecuaciones diferenciales and metodos numericos | 3 | 3.4 | 0.61 |
| Interdisciplinary research | cambio climatico y desarrollo sostenible, biotecnologia y bioingenieria and otros | 1 | 1.1 | 0.58 |
| Agronomy | ciencias del suelo, fisiologia vegetal and fruticultura y viticultura | 2 | 2.2 | 0.55 |
| History | historia de chile, historia hispanoamericana and historia | 1 | 1.1 | 0.41 |
| Earth sciences | oceanografia, geologia y mineralogia and meteorologia y climatologia | 1 | 1.1 | 0.37 |
| Medicine G1 (biomedical sciences) | medicina g1 - cs. biomedicas, cardiologia fisiologia cardiovascular and oncologia quimioterapia cirugia oncologia | 1 | 1.1 | 0.32 |
| Chemistry | quimica, fisico quimica quimica teorica y computacional fotoquimica-fotofisica catalisis y coloides and quimica organica | 2 | 2.2 | 0.29 |
| Biology 3 | biologia molecular, microbiologia and bioquimica | 1 | 1.1 | 0.27 |
Where that falls in Chile's knowledge network
One dot per study group, sized by Chile's projects, coloured by OECD area. Two groups are joined when the institutions specialised in one tend to be specialised in the other too — the proximity of Hidalgo, Klinger, Barabási and Hausmann (2007), computed over the 39 institutions with 40 or more projects. Filled: the 6 groups Universidad de la Serena is specialised in. The axes mean nothing; what the picture says is near and far.
Institutions that research something similar
Affinity compares two institutions' mix of Fondecyt study groups: 100 is the same mix, 0 nothing in common. «In common» are the groups both are specialised in. It is similarity of agenda, not collaboration: ANID publishes only the principal institution of each project, and no network of who works with whom can be read from it.
| Institution | Affinity | Specialised, both, in |
|---|---|---|
| Universidad de Antofagasta | 87 | Astronomy, cosmology and particles · Biology 1 · Engineering 1 · Engineering 3 |
| Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria | 58 | Astronomy, cosmology and particles · Engineering 1 · Engineering 3 |
| Universidad de Concepcion | 57 | Biology 1 · Geography and urbanism · Engineering 1 · Engineering 3 · Linguistics and literature |
| Universidad Catolica de la Santisima Concepcion | 56 | Biology 1 · Engineering 1 · Engineering 3 · Linguistics and literature |
| Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso | 55 | Astronomy, cosmology and particles · Geography and urbanism · Engineering 3 · Linguistics and literature |
| Universidad Catolica del Norte | 52 | Astronomy, cosmology and particles · Biology 1 · Geography and urbanism |
| Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile | 51 | Biology 1 · Geography and urbanism · Engineering 1 · Linguistics and literature |
| Universidad del Bio-Bio | 48 | Astronomy, cosmology and particles · Geography and urbanism · Engineering 1 · Engineering 3 |
Each dot an institution, near the ones whose mix is similar and joined to its two closest; red is Universidad de la Serena, blue its 8 closest.
The newest competitions · 2025–2026
From the 2025 competitions ANID classifies every project by OECD discipline (the second level of the Frascati Manual), and Fondecyt evaluates in new groups. These 31 projects are read apart, by discipline, and are not part of the specialisation above.
ANID's historical register of awarded projects (CC0), cut at 31 December 2025. Institutions are matched to the SIES by name, with an explicit table for ANID's other spellings; foundations, centres and faculties with a legal personality of their own count as their own institution. Research across Chile →
The names it registers its programmes under
38 names · 2026The wording each student enrolled under, as the institution filed it. Only names with at least three entrants are printed.
23 more names, together 776 entrants.
Similar institutions
Other universities with a first-year intake of similar size in 2026.
Mineduc's higher-education registers (SIES): enrolment 2007–2026 and titles 2007–2025; Mineduc's register of secondary-school leavers; and DEMRE's admission register, republished by Mineduc. They are joined person by person through the masked student id Mineduc publishes in all of them for that purpose. First-year entrants are one row per person who started that year; someone who started at two institutions counts at one. Every figure is a count of records; shares and means are taken after adding. The name is the register's own and is written as it writes it. Every university.