The Major National University of San Marcos is a public university in Lima, Peru that was chartered on May 12, 1551 by a Royal Decree signed by Charles I of Spain making it the oldest officially established university in the Americas and also one of the oldest universities in the world. It is considered by many to be the most important and respected institution of higher education in the country and a leading center of scientific research thanks to its faculty, renowned alumni, the quality of its courses, and its competitive admission process.
San Marcos was founded in 1551 by an order of Dominican friars and classes commenced on January 2, 1553. Later, the university was moved to a location adjacent to the Augustine Convent of St. Marcellus. In 1575, it was moved again to the Plaza del Estanque where the Congress of Peru is currently located. Finally, in the 1960s, it was moved to its present location, the modern University City campus in the Industrial Area. The original faculties at San Marcos were Theology and Arts and Law. Jurisprudence and Medicine were added later in the colonial period. The Faculty of Natural Sciences and the Faculty of Economics and Commerce were created in the mid-19th century.
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