The Universidad San Juan de la Cruz (University of St John of the Cross or USJDLC) is a fully accredited private university in Costa Rica.

For some general remarks on Costa Rican private universities, their legal context and international comparability, please see this article.

The University has been continuously accredited by the Consejo Nacional de Enseñanza Superior Universitaria Privada (CONESUP) of the Ministry of Education, Costa Rica, since 20 May 1996. An officially certified and Apostilled copy of the complete listing of private universities accredited by CONESUP as of 2017, including the Universidad San Juan de la Cruz, can be downloaded here:

>>Officially certified list of CONESUP-accredited private universities (April 2017).pdf

As of 2015, the University was listed in the International Association of Universities/UNESCO International Handbook of Universities:

>>International Handbook of Universities listing (2015 edition)

The University has graduated over 8,000 students since its inception, the majority of whom are of Costa Rican nationality. The University specializes in programs aimed at working adults who wish to study in a classroom setting, by distance learning, or by mixing the two study modes.

Class in progress of the Universidad San Juan de la Cruz

The University has maintained various teaching campus centres over the years. At the time of writing, the campus is at Guachipelín de Edificio VMG, Piso 1, San José Province, Escazu, Costa Rica. Most of the offered degree programs are at Bachiller, Licenciatura and Maestria levels with the key areas being Law, Business Administration and Public Accounting.

In 2009, the university which I co-founded and head today, European-American University, established a relationship of academic collaboration and subsequently validation with the Universidad San Juan de la Cruz, which continues at the time of writing. As such, I was offered the opportunity to become a candidate for a degree on the same terms as other members of the faculty. Accordingly, I was a candidate for the degree of Doctorado en Humanidades (PhD in Humanities) in 2009. At the time of my candidacy, the President of the University was Fernando Trejas Castro and the Secretary was Juan Pedro Chavarria Otárola. The University agreed to award the degree by incorporation of my previously-earned French PhD.

Together with my doctoral certificate, the University issued me with a certified statement of its status as an accredited institution from CONESUP, signed by the Executive Director of that body, Ms Evelyn Chen Quesada.