UDLA is a non-profit private corporation, founded in 1988 and it obtained its autonomy in 1997. UDLA became part of Laureate Educational Network in 2000.  With more than 30 years of experience, the institution has 7 campuses distributed in its three branches of Santiago, Viña del Mar and Concepción.  The University community is composed of 23 thousand students, 50 thousand graduates, more than 3 thousand teachers and an administrative staff of 500 employees.

UDLA is an inclusive, secular and pluralist university aimed at providing access to higher education to those who, motivated by their vocation, want to become professionals.  To achieve this goal, it has a strong policy of scholarships which benefits more than 58% of its students.  UDLA is an institution committed with providing its students with the resources that enable them to perform or to appropiatelly undertake in a dynamic, global and increasingly demanding working world.
 
Its educational model is based on the quality of its faculty members, the use of new technologies and the early internships, where the students can connect their learning with the requirements and realities of the country.
 
The institution has a traditional study programme in diurnal and evening sessions.  Additionally it has an Executive Programme with evening classes.  With this programme modality, the university has been pioneer in meeting the particular needs of a segment of the population that wants to access to a higher education, but since they are inserted in the labour world do not have schedule flexibility.  In this manner, the adult segments of students correspond to one-third of the total enrollment.