Simón Bolívar University

Simón Bolívar University (Universidad Simón Bolívar, USB) is a public university in Venezuela devoted to science, technology and engineering, founded by presidential decree in 1967 and opened in 1970 on the Sartenejas estate south of Caracas.西蒙·玻利瓦尔大学（Universidad Simón Bolívar，简称 USB）是委内瑞拉一所侧重科学、技术与工程的公立大学，1967 年依总统法令创办，1970 年在加拉加斯以南的萨尔特内哈斯庄园开学。

It teaches on two campuses, the main one in the Sartenejas valley of Baruta municipality in Miranda state and a second at Camurí Grande on the Caribbean coast in Vargas state, and it charges no tuition.该校在两地办学，主校区位于米兰达州巴鲁塔市镇的萨尔特内哈斯谷地，另一校区位于巴尔加斯州加勒比海沿岸的卡穆里格兰德，且不收取学费。

In 2016 it enrolled 15,415 students, of whom 6,435 were undergraduates and 8,980 postgraduates, and OpenAlex records 13,012 works and 357,520 citations for its researchers.2016 年在校生 15,415 人，其中本科生 6,435 人、研究生 8,980 人，OpenAlex 收录其论文 13,012 篇、被引 357,520 次。

History

• By the 1960s Venezuela's oil economy needed scientists and engineers on a scale that the Central University of Venezuela and the University of the Andes could not supply, and the government began to plan a new institution oriented towards technology.到二十世纪六十年代，委内瑞拉的石油经济对科学家与工程师的需求已超出委内瑞拉中央大学与安第斯大学的培养能力，政府遂着手筹划一所面向技术的新大学。
• In May 1967 the government appointed a commission of Luis Manuel Peñalver, Luis Carbonell, Mercedes Fermín, Miguel Ángel Pérez and Héctor Isava to study the feasibility of a university that would promote economic and social development directly.1967 年 5 月，政府任命由路易斯·曼努埃尔·佩尼亚尔韦尔、路易斯·卡博内尔、梅塞德斯·费尔明、米格尔·安赫尔·佩雷斯与埃克托尔·伊萨瓦组成的委员会，研究创办一所直接推动经济社会发展的大学的可行性。
• On 18 July 1967 President Raúl Leoni signed Decree 878, which created the institution as an Instituto Experimental de Educación Superior under the name Universidad de Caracas.1967 年 7 月 18 日，总统劳尔·莱奥尼签署第 878 号法令，以「加拉加斯大学」之名创办该校，定位为实验性高等教育学院。
• The name proved awkward because the Central University of Venezuela had itself been called Universidad de Caracas, and it was still widely known by that name.「加拉加斯大学」这一名称引发争议，因为委内瑞拉中央大学历史上同样使用过此名，且当时仍常被这样称呼。
• The National Academy of History, the Bolivarian Society of Venezuela and other bodies asked that the new university carry the name of the Liberator, and the government accepted the proposal.委内瑞拉国家历史学院、玻利瓦尔协会等机构请求让新大学冠以「解放者」之名，政府接受了这一建议。
• On 9 July 1969 President Rafael Caldera issued the decree that renamed the institution Universidad Experimental Simón Bolívar, two years after its legal creation.1969 年 7 月 9 日，总统拉斐尔·卡尔德拉颁布法令，将这所两年前依法设立的学校更名为「西蒙·玻利瓦尔实验大学」。
• Days later Caldera appointed the philosopher Ernesto Mayz Vallenilla as founding rector, ratified Francisco Kerdel Vegas as academic vice-rector and named Federico Rivero Palacio as administrative vice-rector.数日后，卡尔德拉任命哲学家埃内斯托·迈斯·瓦列尼利亚为创校校长，确认弗朗西斯科·克尔德尔·贝加斯为学术副校长，并指定费德里科·里韦罗·帕拉西奥为行政副校长。
• Academic activity began on 19 January 1970, when Caldera inaugurated the university on the grounds of the former Sartenejas ranch, a cattle estate in the hills above Caracas.1970 年 1 月 19 日，卡尔德拉在加拉加斯上方山地的萨尔特内哈斯旧牧场为新校揭幕，学校自此正式开课。
• The first cohort was taught in five programmes only, mathematics, chemistry, physics, electrical engineering and chemical engineering, a deliberate concentration on basic science and energy-related engineering.首届仅开设五个专业：数学、化学、物理、电气工程与化学工程，刻意集中于基础科学与能源相关工程。
• In 1975 the architecture student Gabriel Martín Landrove won the institutional competition for a water sculpture, whose construction ran in stages until its inauguration on 5 July 1991.1975 年，建筑系学生加布里埃尔·马丁·兰德罗韦在校内竞图中胜出，其水景雕塑分阶段施工，直至 1991 年 7 月 5 日揭幕。
• A second campus opened in 1977 in the Camurí Grande valley on the Caribbean coast, created to serve the Litoral Central region with technical and associate-degree programmes.1977 年，学校在加勒比海沿岸的卡穆里格兰德谷地开设第二校区，以技术与副学士课程服务中部沿海地区。
• Roberto Smith Perera, who graduated in mathematics in 1981 and later served as a minister, promoted the creation of the university's Vargas campus and sat on its higher council.1981 年毕业于数学系的罗伯托·史密斯·佩雷拉后来出任部长，他曾推动该校巴尔加斯校区的设立，并担任校务委员会成员。
• During the 1980s the university added master's degrees and specialisations in engineering, and its research groups began contracting with the state oil company through the university foundation FUNINDES.二十世纪八十年代，学校增设工程类硕士与专业进修项目，其研究组开始通过大学基金会 FUNINDES 与国家石油公司签订合同。
• On 18 July 1995, in his second term, President Caldera granted the university full autonomy by decree, ending twenty-eight years of direct oversight as an experimental institution.1995 年 7 月 18 日，卡尔德拉在第二个任期内颁布法令，授予该校完全自治权，结束了它作为实验性院校受政府直接监管的二十八年。
• The Venezuelan kinetic artist Carlos Cruz-Diez installed Laberinto Cromovegetal on the Sartenejas campus in 1995, a garden work that became one of the university's symbols.1995 年，委内瑞拉动态艺术大师卡洛斯·克鲁斯-迭斯在萨尔特内哈斯校区完成《色彩植物迷宫》，这件园艺作品后来成为学校的标志之一。
• By 2010 the university had produced more than 38,000 graduates, and by July 2017 it had awarded about 35,000 undergraduate degrees and some 5,000 postgraduate degrees.到 2010 年，该校毕业生已超过 38,000 人；至 2017 年 7 月，累计授予本科学位约 35,000 个、研究生学位约 5,000 个。
• In the early hours of 26 September 2010, security forces entered the campus without a warrant and seized computers from a call centre set up by the student group Voto Joven on the eve of the parliamentary election.2010 年 9 月 26 日凌晨，安全部队在议会选举前夕无搜查令进入校园，从学生组织「青年投票」设立的呼叫中心带走多台电脑。
• The episode was treated by the university authorities as a violation of campus autonomy, a principle that had been formalised in the 1995 decree and that recurs in later disputes with the government.校方将此事视为对校园自治的侵犯，这一原则在 1995 年法令中已予确认，并在其后与政府的多次争执中反复被援引。
• In the QS Latin America ranking of 2015 the university stood 34th in the region and second in Venezuela, its highest recorded position in either table.在 2015 年 QS 拉美大学排名中，该校位列地区第 34 位、委内瑞拉第二，是它在这两份榜单上的最高名次。
• The 2010s brought a prolonged crisis, with faculty emigrating, laboratory supplies becoming scarce and power cuts interrupting teaching, and the university's world ranking slid from the 801-1000 band to 1001-1200.2010 年代学校陷入长期困境，教师外流、实验物资短缺、停电打断教学，其世界排名也从 801-1000 区间滑落至 1001-1200 区间。
• In September 2021 Alejandro Teruel resigned as dean of the Sartenejas campus, a departure that highlighted the strain on academic leadership during the crisis.2021 年 9 月，亚历杭德罗·特鲁埃尔辞去萨尔特内哈斯校区院长职务，这一去职凸显了危机期间学术管理层的压力。
• The 1969 decree styled the institution Universidad Experimental Simón Bolívar, and although the experimental label was dropped when autonomy arrived in 1995, the shorter Universidad Simón Bolívar had long been in everyday use.1969 年法令将该校定名为「西蒙·玻利瓦尔实验大学」，尽管「实验」二字在 1995 年获自治后不再使用，较短的「西蒙·玻利瓦尔大学」早已是日常称谓。

Academics

• Undergraduate teaching is grouped into a College of Sciences, a College of Architecture and Urbanism and a College of Engineering, each with its own dean and departments.本科教学分为理学院、建筑与城市规划学院、工程学院三个学院，各设院长与系所。
• The College of Sciences teaches biology, mathematics, physics and chemistry, the four disciplines on which the university's original 1970 cohort was built.理学院开设生物学、数学、物理学与化学，正是 1970 年首届学生所学的四个基础学科。
• The College of Engineering awards degrees in geophysics, electrical, electronic, computer, mechanical, chemical, production, materials and telecommunications engineering.工程学院授予地球物理、电气、电子、计算机、机械、化学、生产、材料与电信工程等学位。
• A set of associate degrees, including electrical, electronic, mechanical and aeronautical maintenance, hotel and tourism administration, customs and foreign trade, is taught mainly at the Litoral campus.电气、电子、机械与航空维修，以及酒店与旅游管理、海关与外贸等副学士学位主要在沿海校区授课。
• Postgraduate work in the applied sciences leads to master's and doctoral degrees in biology, computer science, physics, mathematics, chemistry, nutrition and food science, plus a doctorate in interdisciplinary science.应用科学类研究生教育可授予生物学、计算机科学、物理学、数学、化学、营养学与食品科学的硕士与博士学位，另设跨学科科学博士。
• The engineering and technology college offers a doctorate in engineering and master's degrees in statistics, biomedical, electronic, electrical, earth sciences, mechanical, chemical, materials and systems engineering.工程与技术学院设有工程学博士，以及统计学、生物医学、电子、电气、地球科学、机械、化学、材料与系统工程等硕士项目。
• The social and humanistic college covers political science, philosophy, sustainable development, literature, music, psychology, applied languages and business administration.社会与人文学院涵盖政治学、哲学、可持续发展、文学、音乐、心理学、应用语言学与工商管理。
• The university is tuition-free and publicly funded, and the QS profile records 3,936 students and 402 faculty in its most recent submission, far below the totals of a decade earlier.该校免收学费、由公共财政支持，QS 档案在其最近一次提交中记录学生 3,936 人、教师 402 人，远低于十年前的规模。
• In 2016 the university reported about 850 academic staff for 15,415 students, a ratio of roughly 18 students per teacher that has since deteriorated with emigration.2016 年该校约有 850 名教师对 15,415 名学生，生师比约为 18 比 1，此后随教师外流而进一步恶化。
• Its researchers have produced 13,012 indexed works and 357,520 citations, with output concentrated in engineering, physics, chemistry and materials science.该校研究人员累计发表索引论文 13,012 篇、获引 357,520 次，产出集中于工程、物理、化学与材料科学。
• The University Foundation for Research and Development, FUNINDES, manages contract research and technology services, and it has run projects for PDVSA, Pequiven and the electricity sector.大学研究与发展基金会（FUNINDES）负责合同研究和技术服务，曾为国家石油公司、石油化工企业及电力部门执行项目。
• The Petroleum Technology Development Centre, CADETEP, was created to turn academic research into industrial value for the oil industry through training, applied research and technology transfer.石油技术发展中心（CADETEP）以培训、应用研究与技术转移为手段，把学术研究转化为石油工业的产业价值。
• Staff and graduates move between the university and the Venezuelan Institute of Petroleum Technology, INTEVEP, the research arm of the state oil company, in both directions.该校教师与毕业生与国家石油公司的研究机构——委内瑞拉石油技术研究所（INTEVEP）之间保持双向流动。
• The library specialises in science, mathematics, engineering and the humanities, and it holds the personal archive of Ernesto Mayz Vallenilla, the founding rector and philosopher.图书馆以科学、数学、工程与人文学科馆藏为主，并收藏创校校长、哲学家埃内斯托·迈斯·瓦列尼利亚的个人档案。
• Admission is decided by a national aptitude test and by secondary school record, and the university has long been described as the most selective science and engineering institution in the country.录取依据全国能力测试与中学成绩，该校长期被视为委内瑞拉选拔最严格的理工类院校。
• Many of its graduates continue at Georgia Institute of Technology, Stanford University or Harvard University, a pattern visible in the careers of its most prominent alumni.该校不少毕业生前往佐治亚理工学院、斯坦福大学或哈佛大学深造，这一路径在其最知名校友的经历中清晰可见。
• Beyond its degrees the university runs an extensive continuing-education portfolio, with specialisations in structural, geotechnical and power-systems engineering, telematics and natural gas business management.除学位项目外，学校还开设覆盖面很广的继续教育课程，包括结构、岩土与电力系统工程、远程信息处理以及天然气企业管理等专业方向。
• Postgraduate enrolment has exceeded undergraduate enrolment since at least 2016, when 8,980 postgraduates were registered against 6,435 undergraduates, a profile unusual for a technological university.至少自 2016 年起，该校研究生人数已超过本科生，当年注册研究生 8,980 人、本科生 6,435 人，这一结构在理工类大学中并不常见。

Campus

• The Sartenejas campus covers 3,489,000 square metres, or 348.9 hectares, in the Baruta municipality of Miranda state, and more than 260 hectares of it remain forest and parkland.萨尔特内哈斯校区位于米兰达州巴鲁塔市镇，占地 3,489,000 平方米（348.9 公顷），其中逾 260 公顷仍为森林与绿地。
• The grounds are laid out as a closed campus on the former cattle ranch, with more than twenty square metres of land per person and a single controlled access road from the Hoyo de la Puerta highway.校园在旧牧场基础上按封闭式校园规划，人均用地超过二十平方米，仅通过奥约德拉普埃尔塔公路的一条受控道路出入。
• The Hidrokinetic Structure, designed in 1975 by Gabriel Martín Landrove and completed in 1991, arranges 576 metal trowels in a 48 by 12 matrix around a rotating cone driven by a water wheel.水力动态雕塑由加布里埃尔·马丁·兰德罗韦于 1975 年设计、1991 年建成，以 48 乘 12 的矩阵排列 576 片金属叶片，围绕由水轮驱动的旋转锥体展开。
• The sculpture is switched on for graduations and other ceremonies, and it has been under a maintenance programme since 2008 after years of mechanical wear.该雕塑在毕业典礼等仪式上开启运转，因多年机械磨损，自 2008 年起纳入专项维护计划。
• Carlos Cruz-Diez made Laberinto Cromovegetal in 1995 as a planted labyrinth of coloured vegetation, an early example of his move from gallery works to landscape commissions.卡洛斯·克鲁斯-迭斯于 1995 年创作的《色彩植物迷宫》以彩色植被构成迷宫，是他从展厅作品转向景观委托的早期例证。
• Espejo Solar, a sculpture by Alejandro Otero, stands beside the campus lake, and a statue of Simón Bolívar by the Peruvian sculptor Joaquín Roca Rey marks the central square.亚历杭德罗·奥特罗的雕塑《太阳之镜》立于校园湖畔，秘鲁雕塑家华金·罗卡·雷伊所作西蒙·玻利瓦尔雕像则矗立在中央广场。
• The Litoral campus occupies the Camurí Grande valley at Naiguatá in La Guaira state, a coastal site opened in 1977 for technical and short-cycle programmes.沿海校区位于拉瓜伊拉州奈瓜塔的卡穆里格兰德谷地，1977 年启用，主要承担技术与短期学制课程。
• Both campuses are suburban and heavily planted, and the Sartenejas site is reached from central Caracas by the Baruta road, a journey that structures the student day.两个校区都处于市郊且绿化浓密，从加拉加斯市中心经巴鲁塔公路抵达萨尔特内哈斯，这段通勤在很大程度上决定了学生的日常作息。

Reputation

• In the QS World University Rankings 2027 the university is placed in the 1001-1200 band, the same tier it has occupied since the 2025 edition.在 2027 年 QS 世界大学排名中，该校位列第 1001-1200 区间，自 2025 年版起一直处于同一档位。
• Its QS trajectory runs from 551-600 in 2012 through 601-650 in 2015 and 801-1000 between 2019 and 2023 to 951-1000 in 2024, a decline that tracks the country's economic collapse.其 QS 名次从 2012 年的 551-600，经 2015 年的 601-650、2019 至 2023 年的 801-1000，降至 2024 年的 951-1000，这一曲线与国家经济崩坏同步。
• In 2015 QS placed it second in Venezuela and 34th in Latin America, the strongest regional position any Venezuelan technological university has recorded.2015 年 QS 将其列为委内瑞拉第二、拉美第 34 位，这是委内瑞拉理工类大学取得过的最好地区名次。
• Times Higher Education ranked it 1001+ in 2021 and 1501+ in 2023, and the university does not appear in the 2027 edition of that table.泰晤士高等教育在 2021 年将其列入 1001 名以后、2023 年列入 1501 名以后，该校未进入 2027 年版榜单。
• It is absent from the U.S. News Best Global Universities list for 2026-2027 and from the Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities 2026.该校未进入 2026 至 2027 年 U.S. News 全球最佳大学榜单，也未出现在 2026 年软科世界大学学术排名中。
• Its 13,012 indexed works and 357,520 citations make it the most cited Venezuelan institution in engineering and the physical sciences per faculty member.13,012 篇索引论文与 357,520 次引用，使其在人均工程与理学引用上成为委内瑞拉被引最多的院校。
• The university's reputation rests on engineering, and its graduates have historically filled technical and managerial posts in PDVSA and the electricity and telecommunications utilities.该校声誉建立在工程学科之上，其毕业生历来占据国家石油公司以及电力、电信企业的技术与管理岗位。
• Entry is restricted to a small fraction of applicants, and the university has been described as admitting only the top five per cent of those sitting the national admission test.该校录取率极低，被认为只接收参加全国入学测试者中排名前 5% 的学生。
• Public funding has fallen since 2010, and the university now relies on alumni donations and contract research to cover equipment and maintenance costs.2010 年以来公共拨款持续下降，学校如今依靠校友捐赠与合同研究支付设备与维护开支。

Student life

• The motto is La Universidad del Futuro, the university of the future, a phrase chosen at foundation to signal an institution built around science and technology rather than tradition.校训为「La Universidad del Futuro」，即「未来大学」，这一提法在建校时即用以表明学校以科学与技术而非传统为立校之本。
• The logo, designed by Gerd Leufert from a photograph of an electrical circuit, arranges eight semicircular lines around a small central rectangle to suggest a series of doors opening one into another.校徽由格尔德·洛伊费尔特依据一张电路照片设计，八条半圆弧线环绕中央小矩形，寓意一道道彼此相通的门。
• Students call the logo La Cebolla, the onion, and read it as a metaphor for the effort required to pass from the wide entrance door to the narrow exit door of graduation.学生把校徽称作「洋葱」，并将其解读为一种隐喻：从宽阔的入学之门走向狭窄的毕业之门，需要付出持续努力。
• The Federación de Centros de Estudiantes represents students across the colleges, and its presidency has been a stepping stone to public life, as in the case of Roberto Patiño between 2007 and 2010.学生中心联合会代表各学院学生，其主席职位常成为进入公共生活的跳板，罗伯托·帕蒂尼奥在 2007 至 2010 年间的经历即是一例。
• The university's Model United Nations team has won the best international delegation award at the Harvard National Model United Nations five times, more than any other delegation in the conference's history.该校模拟联合国队五次在哈佛全国模拟联合国大会上获「最佳国际代表团」奖，次数超过该会议历史上任何其他代表团。
• Its delegation has also taken the best large delegation prize at the World Model United Nations three times, and the teams run selective recruitment and training throughout the year.该校代表团还在世界模拟联合国大会上三次获得「最佳大型代表团」奖，队伍全年实行选拔性招募与训练。
• Engineering students build vehicles for Baja SAE, Formula SAE and Aerodesign, and the Baja team has finished in the top five for ten consecutive years.工程学生组队参加 Baja SAE、Formula SAE 与 Aerodesign 赛事，其中 Baja 车队连续十年进入前五名。
• Campus life is shaped by the estate setting, with long walks between colleges, a lake, forest trails and few nearby shops, and most students commute daily from Caracas.校园生活受庄园式地形塑造，学院之间步行距离较长，园内有湖泊与林间小径，周边商业稀少，多数学生每日从加拉加斯通勤。

Notable people

• Ernesto Mayz Vallenilla, the founding rector, was a philosopher whose books on meta-technics and on the phenomenology of knowledge argued that technology reshapes human identity.创校校长埃内斯托·迈斯·瓦列尼利亚是哲学家，其关于「元技术」与知识现象学的著作主张技术正在重塑人的身份。
• Federico Rivero Palacio, the founding administrative vice-rector, was a chemist who helped design the university's first laboratories and its science curriculum.创校行政副校长费德里科·里韦罗·帕拉西奥是化学家，参与设计了学校首批实验室与理科课程体系。
• Francisco Kerdel Vegas, the founding academic vice-rector, was a physician who shaped the early academic regulations and the admission system of the new institution.创校学术副校长弗朗西斯科·克尔德尔·贝加斯是医生，主持制定了新校早期的学术规章与招生制度。
• Raúl Leoni, president of Venezuela from 1964 to 1969, signed Decree 878 of 18 July 1967 that brought the university into legal existence.劳尔·莱奥尼 1964 至 1969 年任委内瑞拉总统，1967 年 7 月 18 日签署第 878 号法令，使该校获得法律上的设立。
• Rafael Caldera renamed the university in 1969, inaugurated it in 1970 and, in his second term, signed the 1995 decree that granted it full autonomy.拉斐尔·卡尔德拉 1969 年为学校更名、1970 年主持揭幕，并在第二个任期内签署 1995 年法令授予其完全自治。
• Gerd Leufert, the Venezuelan graphic designer, drew the university seal that students still call La Cebolla, working from a photographic reproduction of an electric circuit.委内瑞拉平面设计师格尔德·洛伊费尔特以一张电路照片为底本绘出校徽，学生至今仍称之为「洋葱」。
• Carlos Cruz-Diez, a central figure of kinetic art, gave the campus its Laberinto Cromovegetal in 1995, applying his colour theory to planted landscape rather than to painted surface.动态艺术核心人物卡洛斯·克鲁斯-迭斯于 1995 年为校园创作《色彩植物迷宫》，把他关于色彩的理论运用于植被景观而非绘画表面。
• Alejandro Otero, the sculptor of Espejo Solar, was one of the artists who brought Venezuelan geometric abstraction into public and architectural space.雕塑《太阳之镜》的作者亚历杭德罗·奥特罗，是把委内瑞拉几何抽象艺术引入公共与建筑空间的艺术家之一。
• Joaquín Roca Rey, a Peruvian sculptor, made the bronze Simón Bolívar that stands at the centre of the Sartenejas campus.秘鲁雕塑家华金·罗卡·雷伊创作了立于萨尔特内哈斯校区中心的西蒙·玻利瓦尔铜像。
• Alejandro Plaz Castillo, an electrical engineering graduate of 1977, co-founded the election-monitoring group Súmate and served as Venezuela's ambassador to the Inter-American Development Bank from 2019 to 2023.亚历杭德罗·普拉斯·卡斯蒂略 1977 年毕业于电气工程专业，参与创建选举监督组织「苏马特」，并于 2019 至 2023 年任委内瑞拉驻美洲开发银行大使。
• Roberto Smith Perera, a mathematics graduate of 1981, was minister of transport and communications from 1990 to 1992 and ambassador to the European Union from 1992 to 1995.罗伯托·史密斯·佩雷拉 1981 年毕业于数学专业，1990 至 1992 年任交通与通信部长，1992 至 1995 年任驻欧盟大使。
• Roberto Patiño, a production engineer, presided over the student federation from 2007 to 2010, took a master's in public policy at Harvard in 2015 and founded the community organisation Caracas Mi Convive.生产工程师罗伯托·帕蒂尼奥 2007 至 2010 年任学生联合会主席，2015 年在哈佛取得公共政策硕士学位，并创办社区组织「我的加拉加斯共居」。