President Dr. Arturo Condo Campus Rural Founded 1990 | Established 1990 Provost Daniel Sherrard Phone +506 2713 0000 Number of students 410 | |
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Address Limón Province, Mercedes, Costa Rica Similar University of Costa Rica, INCAE Business School, Universidad Latinoamericana de Cienci, Costa Rica Institute of Technology, Zamorano Profiles | ||
EARTH University (Escuela de Agricultura de la Región Tropical Húmeda), located in Guácimo, Limón and EARTH University – La Flor, in Guanacaste – both locations in Costa Rica – is a private non-profit university which offers an undergraduate program leading to a licenciatura degree in agricultural sciences.
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History
In the 1980s, EARTH University was developed through a partnership between a group of Costa Ricans, the United States Agency for International Development(USAID), the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Costa Rican Government. The cornerstone of the first campus building was laid on 2 April 1989 and the campus and first academic year were inaugurated on 26 March 1990. The campus is adjacent to a banana plantation.
Admissions and student body
Currently, EARTH has about 400 students enrolled from 33 different countries. 39 percent of the student body is women and 76 percent is from rural communities. Each enrolling class comprises about 100 students chosen from about 1,300 applicants. Most students receive scholarships to cover all or part of the $15,000 tuition.
Campus
The 52,981 m2 (570,280 sq ft) campus on a 33.76 km2 (8,340 acres) property in Guácimo includes educational facilities, a library specializing in agricultural and environmental topics, laboratories, a rainforest reserve with primary and secondary forests, and a farm dedicated to agricultural and cattle production. The second campus, EARTH-La Flor, was donated to the university in 2005 by the family of Daniel Oduber Quirós, a previous president of Costa Rica. EARTH-La Flor is 3,700 acres (15 km2).
Tree planting
EARTH Plants the Future was a tree planting project organized by the university and its graduates as part of its twentieth anniversary celebration. They planned to plant at least 200,000 trees, including almond trees, espavé, mahogany or Guanacastes in more than 26 countries where its alumni reside for World Environment Day on 5 June 2010.