Playa Ancha University of Educational Sciences (), mostly known as Playa Ancha University or UPLA, is a public university in Valparaíso, Chile. It is part of the Chilean Traditional Universities, belonging to the Council of Rectors, a select group of twenty-five chilean universities. The university has two campuses: the major one in Playa Ancha, Valparaíso, and the second one in San Felipe. The university seeks to train professionals with an ethical, humanistic, analytical, critical and creative profile, who can contribute to economic, cultural, social, regional and national development. The institution has a vast tradition in education and humanities areas, and it is deeply involved with the community of Valparaiso and San Felipe. History The university was founded in 1948 as the Pedagogical Institute of the University of Chile with the intention to enhance the study of languages. The Creation of the Pedagogical Institute (1948-1973) The Pedagogical Institute of Valparaíso was founded in 1948, as the initiative of Oscar Guzmán Escobar, a lawyer and professor at the then Valparaíso Law School of the University of Chile, with the intention of promoting the study of Spanish and some foreign languages. It was initially located on Calle Colón in Valparaíso, in the former campus of the current School of Law of the University of Valparaíso, currently the School of Social Work of the same university. It was supported in its initiative by the professors of Valparaíso Emilio Muñoz Mena, Juan Montedónico Napoli and Pedro Contreras Valderrama, among others. In 1950, due to the quality of its activity, and after inspection by the members of the Faculty of Philosophy and Education of the University of Chile, it received by Supreme Decree the status of State cooperator in education, its exams being valid and rendered before the official commissions designated by the Casa de Bello. The first courses taught by the then Institute were Pedagogy in Spanish, French and English, while in 1951 a Philosophy course was created and a year later the first School of Journalism in the country and a Women's Normal School were established. The University of Chile initially contributed with very outstanding professors from Santiago, such as Héctor Castillo, Ricardo Benavides, and Professor Cedomil Goic, among others, together with outstanding professors from the region such as Juan Montedónico, Carlos Pantoja Gómez, and Félix Morales Pettorino, who formed a team that took advantage, together with teachers from the Liceo Eduardo de la