Uruguay

Partners and Experts in Uruguay

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Uruguay in a nutshell

(sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uruguay)

Source : http://www.cia.gov

Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay (Spanish: República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country located in the southeastern part of South America.

It is home to 3.46 million people, of whom 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area.

An estimated 80-88% of the population are of mostly European and/or mixed descent.

Uruguay's only land border is with Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, to the north. To the west lies the Uruguay River, to the southwest lies the estuary of Río de la Plata, with Argentina only a short commute across the banks of either of these bodies of water, while to the southeast lies the South Atlantic Ocean.

Uruguay is the second smallest country in South America, larger only than Suriname.

The economy is largely based on agriculture (making up 10% of GDP and the most substantial export) and the state sector. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the least corrupt country in Latin America (along with Chile), with its political and labour conditions being among the freest on the continent.

Uruguay is one of the most economically developed countries in Latin America, with a high GDP per capita and the 47th highest quality of life in the world.

Uruguay consists of nineteen departments (departamentos, singular "departamento"). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest, Flores, dates from 1885. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly (Junta Departamental) form the legislative level of the department.

Uruguay is South America's most secular country. It has no official religion and church and state are separate.

Education in Uruguay

Note that the Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Uruguay is very out of date.

The report at http://www.isep.org/students/Placed/handbook_education.asp?country=43 notes that:

Elementary education in Uruguay is mandatory and free; secondary and technical education and the Universidad de la República are free. Several private institutions of higher learning are administered by the Catholic Church.

Access to higher education is based upon completion of six years of secondary school, which itself is divided into two cycles: the four-year ciclo basico (basic) and the two-year ciclo diversificado (specialized). The ciclo diversificado prepares the student for the field that he or she will pursue at the university level.

Upon completion of four to six years of university study, a student may receive a degree of licenciado (first university degree), followed by a bachiller, doctor, experto, or técnico (three years); procurador, bachiller, or técnico (four years); arquitecto, ingeniero, or doctor (five years); and ingeniero, notario, or doctor (six years). Technical and teacher-training schools are also available.

Grades awarded are S (Sobre saliente), MB (Muy bueno), B (Bueno), R (Regular), and D (Deficiente); B (Bueno) is the lowest passing mark.

Further and Higher education

Universities in Uruguay

Wikipedia lists just five universities (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_universities_in_Uruguay):

1. Universidad Católica del Uruguay Dámaso Antonio Larrañaga - the only private university of the country for 11 years until 1996
2. Universidad de Montevideo - a private university
3. ORT Uruguay - said to be Uruguay's largest private university
4. University of the Republic - Uruguay's public university, and the country's largest, with a student body of more than 70,000 students; founded in 1849 in Montevideo, where most of its buildings and facilities are still located
5. Universitario Autónomo del Sur - founded in 1985 but with little information available on it

The Association of Universities of the Montevideo Group - La Asociación de Universidades Grupo Montevideo (AUGM) - is headquartered in Uruguay.

Information society

Broadband (sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_in_Uruguay)

Statistics of Internet:

• Internet users: 968,000 (2007)
• Internet Hosts: 480,593 (2007)
• Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 5 (1999)

In Uruguay, you can access the Internet mainly by using:

• DSL services, provided by the state owned telco company (ANTEL).
• One of the different Wireless ISP (which have a tendency to be more expensive because of high taxation and radio spectrum licenses costs).
• As an option, some shopping malls and other commercial business offer WiFi access at their location.
• Cyber cafes are very common throughout the whole country, and very inexpensive (from about U$S 0.4 an hour).
• 3G mobile internetm which is offered by all the mobile phone companies with rates of up to 3 Mbit/s - the 3G charges are similar to ADSL rates.
• Slower mobile internet service (EDGE and GPRS) is also offered by all mobile phone companies at very low flat rates.

ANTEL, a telco company owned by the government, charges U$S 50 a month (about U$S 600 a year) for a 1536 kbit/s/128 kbit/s ADSL service. That is one of the most expensive DSL services in the region (which includes Argentina, Brazil and Chile), while wages in Uruguay might be lower than in said countries. Also, the services dynamically changes the IP address of the customer every 12 hours, making it difficult to use for tele-working. Antel enjoys a monopoly in the basic telephony area, and has successfully prevented other competitors (such as Cable companies) from entering the Internet service provider business. ISP are then forced to use other technologies, such as radio, to get to customers. Usually, the taxation and licensees for radio spectrum are also very expensive, in a way to artificially not allow these ISP to be cost competitive with Antel DSL service.

References

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