The University of the Andes (Spanish: Universidad de los Andes), also known as Uniandes, is a coeducational, nonsectarian private university located in downtown Bogotá, Colombia. Founded in 1948, The University currently has 9 Schools, all of which offer undergraduate and postgraduate programs: Management, Architecture and Design, Arts and Humanities, Science, Social Sciences, Law, Economics, Engineering and Medicine The university was founded by a group of Colombian intellectuals led by Mario Laserna Pinzón and was at the time the first university in the country to be non-sectarian, that is, independent of political parties or influence from the state or the church. Today, the University sought to model itself after major research universities through strategies as greater focus on graduate education and research. As a result of this, doctorate programs have been opened in recent years and new research facilities have been built on campus. It was ranked 8th among the top universities in Latin America, classification done by QS World University Ranking in 2016.