The  University of the Republic is the largest public university in Uruguay. It has more than 135 thousand undergraduate students, according to 2018 data from the continuous survey of students. It was founded on July 18, 1849 in Montevideo, and currently has a presence in 14 departments of the country. Its first rector was Lorenzo Fernández, and its current rector since 2018 is the economist Rodrigo Arim. 

The University of the Republic is an autonomous entity (consecrated as such in the Constitution of the Republic), of a co-governed nature, which means the participation of all university students (the orders of students, graduates and teachers) in government decisions that they affect the institution, in accordance with the Organic Law of the University, approved in 1958. 

It is made up of university services: faculties, schools, institutes, regional university centers and central services. This section explains which are its governing bodies, how they are integrated and how the general functioning of the co-government is, both in the services and at the central level. You can also access the rules that govern the institution.