The Universidad Empresarial de Costa Rica (Business University of Costa Rica) 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 was founded in 1992 as the International Postgraduate School and has been continuously accredited by the Consejo Nacional de Enseñanza Superior Universitaria Privada (CONESUP) of the Ministry of Education, Costa Rica, since 5 November 1997. An officially certified and Apostilled copy of the complete listing of private universities accredited by CONESUP as of 2017, including the Universidad Empresarial de Costa Rica, can be downloaded here:
>>Officially certified list of CONESUP-accredited private universities (April 2017).pdf
As of 2020, the University was listed in the International Association of Universities/UNESCO International Handbook of Universities and World Higher Education Database. The University was a member of the International Association of Universities with IAU ID number IAU-017738.
>>Listing and profile of UNEM in the International Association of Universities International Handbook of Universities, 18th Edition. The profile includes a description of the University’s facilities and the programs offered.
The University has for many years combined offering programs to Costa Rican citizens with a thriving International Program which makes its degree programs available to Spanish-speaking citizens worldwide. The University has delivered programs by distance learning for many years but has also maintained campus facilities in San José, most recently at C
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 Empresarial de Costa Rica, 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 Maestria en Administracion de Empresas (Master of Business Administration) by distance learning, which was awarded on 15 January 2010. My program comprised 14 courses and 42 credits, including an emphasis in entrepreneurship.
In addition, I was a candidate for a further Doctorado en Humanidades (PhD in Humanities) with emphasis in History. For this degree, I submitted a thesis on the British Old Catholic bishop Arnold Harris Mathew (1852-1919) that was subsequently published as a book. My thesis was prepared with the benefit of the guidance of Professor Bertil Persson and access to several important private archives, including material from the Liberal Catholic Church. It has since been cited in the doctoral theses of others writing on Old Catholicism.
In 2014, I was appointed to a Full Professorship in Education in the International Program of UNEM, as confirmed by the following letter, and continue to hold this position at the time of writing.
Professor John Kersey 