Universidad de los Andes (Uniandes) is widely considered the most elite and expensive private university in Colombia. While international students often use the government's ICETEX scholarship to fund their studies here, the university itself offers internal financial aid and tuition discounts based on extreme academic merit and financial need.
Quick Overview
Full Requirements & Details
Academic Requirements
- Min. CGPA
- 4.0
- Offer Degrees
- Bachelors, Masters, PhD
- Subjects
- Agriculture, Arts, Biology, Business, Chemistry, Computer Science, Economics, Engineering, History, Law, Mathematics, Medicine, Physics, Psychology
- Seats Available
- Varies
- Study Gap Allowed
- No Restrictions (Gap Allowed)
- Research Publication
- Optional
- Work Experience
- No
- Age Range
- No Age Limit
Language Requirements
- IELTS
- Optional
- TOEFL
- Optional
- GRE
- Not Required
- Local Language
- Spanish
- Local Lang Test
- Yes (B2)
- Study Languages
- Spanish
Financial Details
- Type
- Partial
- Fund Details
- Tuition discounts (5% to 50%) or graduate assistantships for PhDs
- Monthly Stipend
- COP 0/mo
- Tuition
- Partial
- Living Costs
- No
- Travel & Health
- No / None
- Application Fee
- 50
- Spouse Allowed
- No
What Matters Most
Required Documents
Why You Should Apply
Located in the heart of Bogotá, Uniandes has an infrastructure, faculty, and alumni network that rivals elite universities in the Global North. However, tuition is prohibitively expensive for most Latin American students. If you do not win the ICETEX government scholarship, applying for internal Uniandes support is your next best option.
For undergraduates and Master's students, this usually manifests as a percentage discount on tuition (e.g., 20% to 50% off). For PhD candidates, the university is much more generous, often providing full tuition waivers and graduate research/teaching assistantships that pay a living stipend, bringing the experience much closer to a North American fully funded PhD model.
Application Process
You must first apply for admission to your desired program. During the admission process, you engage with the 'Apoyo Financiero' (Financial Support) office. For Master's degrees, many faculties have specific discounts for top-scoring applicants on the entrance exams.
For PhDs, you must negotiate directly with the faculty and your prospective research supervisor to secure a funded assistantship position.
How to Win This Scholarship
Because Uniandes is a private institution running on tuition revenue, straight cash scholarships for international Master's or Bachelor's students are incredibly rare. Your strategy should be to score in the highest percentile on the university's internal entrance exams to trigger automatic merit discounts. If you are applying for a PhD, treat the process exactly like a job interview: you must pitch a research project that aligns with a well-funded Uniandes laboratory or professor, proving that your work will bring prestige and publications to the university.
Benefits After Completing Study
A degree from Uniandes is the ultimate golden ticket in the Colombian and Andean corporate world. Alumni aggressively recruit other alumni into top consulting firms, banking, and government ministries.
Do not expect a full ride for an undergraduate or Master's degree directly from Uniandes internal funds. You must secure external funding or have significant personal savings to cover living in Bogotá (which can cost $600 to $1,000 USD per month depending on your lifestyle in the areas near the university). Most programs are taught entirely in academic Spanish, so a high level of fluency is absolutely required.
Official Source
For complete details and to verify all requirements, please refer to the scholarship provider's official website.
Visit Official Source