The Universidad Autónoma de Occidente – UAO-, founded in 1970, is a not for profit University, located in Cali, Colombia.

It holds high high quality institutional accreditation. The Bureau Veritas International Organization has certified UAO ISO 9001 since 2010 as well as in ISO 14001 for the environmental sustainability. In this field, within the University of Indonesia Green Metric World University Ranking, the UAO is the first private university in Colombia and the only one of the region in this ranking. It develops sustainable energy programs awarded by National Ministry of Mines and Energy.

Approximately, it has 10.000 undergraduate students, 1.000 professors and 540 administrative staff. Out of the 20 undergraduate programs, 14 hold high quality accreditation by the National Accreditation Council; 2 programs are certified by CERTQUA, Germany; 1 Program is internationally accredited by CLAEP – American Council on Accreditation of Education in Journalism. There are 27 research groups recognized by Colciencias and two research centers: the Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of the Colombian Pacific Region -CIER – and the Center of Excellence in Materials. There are 73 labs.