University of Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires, Argentina · founded 1821 · 328,361 students · public research university

Known for: Being the largest university in Argentina and one of the most prestigious in Latin America, renowned for its research output and for producing numerous Nobel Prize laureates, presidents, and influential intellectuals.

Rankings

QS World: #67
Times Higher Education: #135
ARWU Shanghai: #201

Top programmes

Medicine
Law
Social Sciences
Engineering
Economics
Natural Sciences

Notable alumni

Bernardo Houssay — Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1947)
Luis Federico Leloir — Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1970)
César Milstein — Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1984)
Pope Francis — First Jesuit pope, former Archbishop of Buenos Aires
René Favaloro — Pioneering cardiac surgeon who developed coronary bypass surgery
Julio Cortázar — Influential novelist and short story writer
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel — Nobel Peace Prize laureate (1980)
Carlos Saavedra Lamas — Nobel Peace Prize laureate (1936)

Traditions

La Noche de los Museos (Night of the Museums)
Massive student demonstrations and political assemblies
Faculty-specific initiation rituals for new students
Graduation ceremonies at the historic Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires

If University of Buenos Aires were…

As a food: Asado at a neighborhood parrilla — Slow-cooked, communal, unpretentious, and central to Argentine identity—everyone has access, quality varies wildly, and the experience is as much about the conversation as the meal. UBA is Argentina's intellectual asado:
As an athlete: Lionel Messi — World-class talent forged in Argentina's scrappy, resource-starved football culture, proving brilliance doesn't require wealth or infrastructure. UBA produces Nobel laureates and presidents from crumbling buildings with
As a person alive today: Pope Francis — Argentine Jesuit who rose from the Global South to lead an ancient institution, combining intellectual rigor with populist instincts and a taste for institutional reform. UBA shares his DNA: intellectually serious, polit
As a historical figure: Simón Bolívar — Revolutionary liberator who dreamed of a united, educated Latin America free from colonial hierarchies—brilliant, idealistic, perpetually at war with reactionary forces. UBA embodies Bolívar's vision: free education as l
As a movie or TV show: The Secret in Their Eyes — Juan José Campanella's Oscar-winner about memory, justice, and Argentina's violent past—intellectually dense, emotionally raw, set against Buenos Aires's faded grandeur. UBA is that film's academic counterpart: haunted b
As a US president: Thomas Jefferson — Enlightenment intellectual who founded a public university (UVA) to educate citizens for democracy, believed in meritocracy over aristocracy, and spent his life in debt. UBA is Jefferson's ideal realized at scale: radica
As a city: Buenos Aires itself — UBA isn't just in Buenos Aires—it IS Buenos Aires, woven into every barrio from Recoleta to Constitución. The university's 13 faculties are scattered across the city like organs in a body, and porteño intellectual life i
As an element: Silver — Argentina means 'land of silver'—the element that named the nation, conductive, precious, and historically plundered by empires. UBA is Argentina's intellectual silver: valuable, refined through centuries, still gleaming
As a car: 1978 Peugeot 504 — The iconic Argentine taxi and intellectual's ride—tough, politically opinionated, and still running despite economic crises that would have totaled lesser vehicles. This tuition-free public university churns out psychoan

Campus life

The university is decentralized across the city with numerous faculties, creating an urban, integrated campus life. Student life is highly politicized and active, with a strong tradition of student union participation and political debate. Social and cultural activities are vibrant, centered around faculty buildings, cafes, and the city's rich cultural offerings.

The film, scored

This profile answers “if University of Buenos Aires were a movie or TV show?” with The Secret in Their Eyes (2009). Juan José Campanella's Oscar-winner about memory, justice, and Argentina's violent past—intellectually dense, emotionally raw, set against Buenos Aires's faded grandeur. UBA is that film's academic counterpart: haunted by dictatorship, obsessed with truth, operating in beautiful ruins, where every seminar could become a political reckoning. It sits in the 92nd percentile on rankquant, which re-centres every critic score on the reviewer who gave it, so a percentile means position against peers rather than a raw star average. The full film & TV catalogue ranks the rest the same way.