145 years of history
It was the year 1880 when three nuns of the Society of the SagradoCorazón de Jesús landed at the docks of San Juan, coming from Havana, Cuba. Their mission was to establish in Puerto Rico the educational and spiritual work that exactly 80 years earlier had been started by Mother Magdalena Sofía Barat in France.
During the first two years, the College of Sagrado Corazón, also known as 'el Pensionado', was an elementary school dedicated to the education of women. Initially, they were located in the Diputación building in Old San Juan and in 1882 the first building was built in what today houses the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico.
During the early years of the 20th century, the College of Sagrado Corazón was established on Calle de la Cruz in Old San Juan, until 1903, when the nuns decided to buy some 117 acres of land in the Santurce sector. On the highest point of this land, in 1906, what is known today as the emblematic building of the University of San Juan was built. Sagrado Heart.
By 1935, the nuns wanted to expand their academic offering and the Colegio Universitario del Sagrado Corazón (CUSC), also known as the 'COLLEGE', offered a Liberal Arts education that included programs in Humanities, Natural Sciences, and Secretarial Sciences. The first graduation of college students took place in 1939, conferring the degree of Bachelor of Arts on eleven students.
In 1972, the institution was opened to the community, admitting students of both sexes for the first time (coeducational). In December 1976, the Board of Trustees officially authorized the use of the institution's new name: Universidad del Sagrado Corazón.
Since then, Sagrado It has positioned itself as one of the most prestigious private and non-profit universities in Puerto Rico, which rests on the pillars of a transformative mission: “To educate people in intellectual freedom and moral conscience, willing to participate in the construction of a more authentically Christian Puerto Rican society: a supportive community in justice and peace.” Similarly, the institution derives its academic project from a vision of “offering a unique academic project, an innovative educational experience in which the classroom is the world, in an environment characterized by a community life of excellence and which is based on the principle that the human being and Christian values are the very center of the project.”
With its mission and vision, the University of Sagrado Corazón is positioned as an entity that makes a vital contribution to the future of the country by training intellectually prepared citizens with the highest ethical and Christian values.