The University of La Sabana (Spanish: Universidad de La Sabana), is a Colombian private higher education institution founded in 1979. It is located in the municipality of Chía, 7 kms north of Bogotá. The university is awarded with the High Quality Institutional Accreditation by the National Ministry of Education. One of the university's characteristics is the integral formation of the student. Apart from enhancing the student's intellectual growth, the university has implemented initiatives to ensure success in the development of a student as a whole. One such program is Personalized Academic Counseling that aims to promote the development of the person as a unique individual. Another program, Pharos, is aimed at students who are in search of excellence, leadership and solidarity. La Sabana has 21 research groups classified by Colciencias, the government office that certifies the quality of research groups in Colombian universities. There are also 20 emerging groups that promote “semilleros de investigación” (research “offshoots”) for students in all programmes. The university currently runs 18 undergraduate programmes.