The institution
Education with a purpose.
AUREA started as an upper secondary institute with forty-two students. Twenty-five years later it is an institution with two levels, nine programmes and one conviction: that education is measured by what the graduate can do.
We do not teach for the exam. We teach for the moment, two or ten years later, when somebody has a problem in front of them and no instructions for what to do with it.
That forces a particular way of working: small groups, teachers who practise as well as teach, projects that leave the classroom, and assessment that asks you to demonstrate before it asks you to recall. It also forces something less visible: reaching a student who is falling behind before the grade announces it.
Four commitments
Rigour
A demanding standard, explained from day one and applied the same to everyone.
Support
Nobody goes it alone. Tutoring, guidance and a form tutor for every class.
Placement
Lab, workshop, placement, and projects with a real client.
Community
Clubs, sport, art and volunteering as part of the education, not as decoration.
01Our history
From forty-two students to eight thousand four hundred.
Twenty-five years in six moments. Illustrative dates and figures.
- 2001
Founding
Instituto AUREA opens with forty-two tenth-grade students in a converted house in Barrio La Leona, with seven teachers and a single baccalaureate.
- 2008
New campus
The move to the Central Campus. Four buildings, the first laboratories of its own, and the opening of the Technical Baccalaureate in Computing.
- 2014
Higher education
The first three degrees arrive — Systems Engineering, Business Administration and Psychology — and the institution becomes AUREA Institute & University.
- 2020
Digital campus
The virtual campus, the student portal and the parent portal go live in nine weeks. No student loses the school year.
- 2023
Research
The Artificial Intelligence Centre and the Business Observatory are founded, with research places for undergraduates.
- 2026
A new generation
Nine programmes, eight thousand four hundred students, and a new Innovation Centre shared by upper secondary and higher education.
02Mission, vision and values
What we say we do.
Mission
To form people able to solve real problems with knowledge, judgement and responsibility, from upper secondary through to university.
Vision
To be the country's reference institution for the quality of what its graduates can do, and for staying with every student until they can show it.
Rigour
A demanding academic standard, made explicit and applied by the same measure to everyone.
Integrity
What we say we assess is what we assess. What we promise, we deliver or we put right.
Closeness
Small classes, teachers you can reach, and an institution that knows its students by name.
Equity
Talent does not depend on family income. The scholarship system exists so that cost does not decide either.
Curiosity
Asking is part of the method. The right answer without the question teaches nothing.
Responsibility
To the student, to the family, and to the community the institution works in.
03Our approach to teaching
Learning by doing.
AUREA's teaching model rests on four pillars. None of them is a statement of intent: each has hours, spaces and assessment assigned to it.
A teaching model is proved on the timetable, not in the prospectus. These four pillars have hours, spaces and assessment assigned, and the section below says exactly how many.
Knowledge
A solid common core
The fundamentals that do not change, taught to the depth someone will need if they are going to build on them for forty years.
Placement
Laboratories
You learn by doing, and the doing is assessed. Lab work from year one, a compulsory placement, and projects with a real client.
Technology
Virtual campus
Not as a subject of its own but as a tool running through everything: data, digital tools and the virtual campus across all nine programmes.
Purpose
Entrepreneurship
An education aimed at something. Entrepreneurship, volunteering, research and community work are part of the plan, not extracurricular activities.
How a week is divided up
35 %
Lecture
Fundamentals and conceptual framework
30 %
Laboratory and workshop
Working with a team and with your hands
20 %
Team project
With a deliverable and a client
15 %
Tutoring and support
One to one and in small groups
Illustrative content. The split describes the curriculum design; it is not a measurement.
04Leadership
Who answers for what.
Rector · since 2019
Elena Villalta
M.Sc. in Educational Management. Responsible for running the institution and for relations with the board.
Academic Vice-Rector · since 2021
Fernando Cáceres
Ph.D. in Higher Education. Leads academic policy across the degrees, the teaching staff and research.
Head of Upper Secondary · since 2016
Marcela Fuentes
M.Sc. in Education. Runs the three baccalaureates, the upper secondary staff, and support for families.
Head of Admissions · since 2022
Adriana Rivas
Degree in Business. Coordinates admissions at both levels, the visits, and guidance for families.
Director of Administration and Finance · since 2018
Julio Meraz
M.B.A. Institutional finance, scholarships, infrastructure and campus services.
Director of Student Wellbeing · since 2020
Inés Carrillo
M.Sc. in Educational Psychology. Guidance, mental health, inclusion, accessibility and student life.
We do not teach for the exam. We teach for the moment, two or ten years later, when somebody has a problem in front of them and no instructions for what to do with it.Elena Villalta · Rector
25+
years training professionals
8,400+
students
92 %
of graduates in work
32
academic programmes
Illustrative content