The best universities in the country are dying

Hello everybody, today I want to tell something that, sadly, is occurring in my country: Venezuela. I notify to you that country’s best universities are being left alone more and more, because they are being plundered on a daily basis. In this occasion I want to talk about one university in specific, that in his good old times, was within the top five country’s best universities: The University of the East (Universidad de Oriente, U.D.O.)

All the pictures were taken by me.

A daydream university, the best in the east of the country, in matters of education, scientific and technological research.

It al started in an old house from Caigüire in Cumaná, the year was 1958. Due to the lack of infrastructure and trained staff to teach classes at UDO, The Government donated a big terrain of 300 hectares in Cerro Colorado in order to build its classrooms, and an alliance was created with important universities of USA, south America and Japan.

What is nowadays the dean building of the Sucre Core, located in Cerro del Medio, used to serve as households for professors and familiars sent by the universities within the alliance, these staff came to prepare those who were already in the university so they could impart high-quality classes.

By the pass of time, the university expanded to others eastern states of the country. Currently, there are 5 cores, which are: Anzoátegui, Bolívar, Monagas, Nueva Esparta, and the first and main core, Sucre.

UDO gained respect and recognition from others world’s universities by graduating professionals that later obtained important spots nationally as well as internationally. This way, it was increasingly known for its participation in international level activities, for instance: “The Team Formula SAE UDO” a single-seater designer, to participate at international level in the Formula SAE with other universities; at the very beginning it didn’t have much success but it later started to gain renown when managed to complete all the laps of the race satisfactorily, without any failure; it didn’t win but what they achieved was already a hit among the universities that participated in the Formula SAE. With the passage of time, UDO didn’t take par gain due to lack of funding, albeit recently I watched a video from the last vehicle designed by UDO that, presumably, was build this year.

In other hand, "SoyUDOMUN" (Soy UDO Model United Nations), was created a team whom represents the University in front of different models of the United Nations and internationally. Also exists the group called 'CEMDERO' which does hiking and other sports related. The university possess a diving and sea research group, it also has an active choral that plays at national level. It's also important to note that the university is also known due to its participation en computer programming contests, where the students, specially those from Sucre's Core, have obtained important spots in competitions from all universities from Venezuela as well as South American competitions

Since childhood I've visited The University because of many family members have studied and worked there. For me, in my childhood, it was something immense, such a big place, where there was a lot of people. Many others shares my opinion that it was another city inside Cumaná. The weekends were just like weekdays, there were always people at the campus, even at nighttime

Three routes (busses) for students transportation used to exist. I remember that always were two busses parked for each route, even more. These yellow busses have been always replete of people!

These are the busses

I've already spoken the goods of the university and why I inscribed myself in it, but now I'm going to talk about how it's the university in this moment.

Currently, the UDO is abandoned, all alone, every time there are more students and professors deserting of the university in order to leave the country

I must emphasize that most of the positions in the regional government are graduated in this university. They were active members in different student groups but they have neglected, beaten and mistreated this university. The university has always been autonomous and has exhorted to have its own thoughts and to defend freedom of expression.

Every day armed robberies are lived to those who still live on the campus of the university, plus every weekend or holiday period there are robberies and looting in all facilities of the university, although it seems impossible to believe, lately They are stealing up doors and windows. There are photos and videos of one of the latest thefts, "the handrails" of the stairs of the science department, a crazy thing, and not just one floor but five floors of the building.

When you walk through the university you will notice the loneliness present in each place that it has. Places that were previously full of people.

I am a computer science student at Universidad de Oriente, Núcleo de Sucre, since period 2 of the year 2015; elected member of the Computer Science Students Association. It should be noted that in this semester two of the subjects I enrolled in the course with a teacher who lives in a nearby town and finds it difficult to travel to Cumaná in view of the fact that it is difficult to get to pay for the ticket to the university. In this same order of idea I comment, that I also study a subject in which only three people were enrolled, but only I attended, I speak in the past because several days have passed since I do not know anything about the teacher, will he have left the country? Maybe, but it would not surprise me, since it is common for this to happen, and not only in this university, but in all of them, even in the government's universities, the professors leave the country and do not report anything.

In the same way I commented to you, that the university canteen no longer works and the pile of buses of the routes are all in a junkyard cemetery; only one is working and sometimes it does not even work because it stops for lack of a spare.

The culmination of library of the core of Sucre we have lived with a promise that takes decades.

A great sadness is what floods me to see how my house was since I was a child now it is like this, I refuse to abandon my studies at the U.D.O. to go to another university or to leave the country, almost every day I walk 7 km to reach it and then 7 km more to get to my house, many times just to attend and make life in this house of study.

I really hope that this university will be great again to honor the name with which many know