🇸🇻 43 institutions · 200,598 students
El Salvador's universities and institutes — enrolment and every listed programme.
All 43 higher-education institutions in the education ministry's data — 24 universities, of which one is public, and 19 institutes — with students enrolled in the first term of 2023 by programme, campus and sex, and the programmes on the ministry's October 2024 list of programmes in force.
Institutions
43
24 universities · 14 specialised higher-education institutes · 4 technological institutes · 1 institute (type not stated in the sources)
Students, first term of 2023
200,598
56% women · at 62 campuses of 41 institutions
At public institutions
33%
the Universidad de El Salvador alone has 56,968 (28%)
Programmes on the October 2024 list
988
at 41 institutions
What the figures are, and what isn't here
Enrolment is MINEDUCYT's count of students enrolled in the first term (Ciclo I) of 2023, by programme and campus, women and men — the newest enrolment workbook on the ministry's higher-education statistics page (published August 2024). The file has no total row: every total here is our sum of its rows.
The ministry's list of programmes in force (“carreras vigentes”) is dated October 2024. For each programme it gives the modality, the sites where it is taught and the last term for which it is authorised — “2nd term of 2025” is the list's “Ciclo 02-2025”. Its asterisk means no validity detail is given (most of the Universidad de El Salvador's programmes); a few entries have no date at all. Dates are shown as recorded: the list does not say whether a programme has been renewed since, so it is not a statement of what is taught today.
Public or private is the sector MINEDUCYT records in the 2023 workbook, shown as recorded — it lists, for example, ITCA-FEPADE and the Escuela Superior Franciscana Especializada AGAPE as public.
MINEDUCYT publishes no fees, admission requirements or graduate outcomes per institution as data, so this is a directory of institutions, their 2023 enrolment and their listed programmes, not a matcher.
Universities (24)
Alphabetically. The Universidad de El Salvador is the only public university; it has a main campus in San Salvador and regional faculties in Santa Ana, San Miguel and San Vicente.
Specialised higher-education institutes (14)
Institutos especializados, among them the military school, the national police academy and the diplomatic institute. Alphabetically.
| Institution | Students, Ciclo I 2023 | Women | Postgraduate | Programmes listed, Oct 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Academia Nacional de Seguridad PúblicaANSP · Public | 1,036 | 25% | 0 | 3 |
| Centro Cultural Salvadoreño AmericanoCCSA · Private | 281 | 62% | 0 | 4 |
| Escuela de Comunicación Mónica HerreraPrivate | 460 | 62% | 0 | 3 |
| Escuela Especializada en Ingeniería ITCA-FEPADEITCA-FEPADE · Public · 5 campuses | 5,958 | 28% | 0 | 29 |
| Escuela Militar “Capitán General Gerardo Barrios”Public | 542 | 13% | 29 | 3 |
| Escuela Nacional de Agricultura “Roberto Quiñónez”ENA · Public | 319 | 36% | 0 | 2 |
| Escuela Superior de Economía y NegociosESEN · Private | 735 | 50% | 0 | 4 |
| Escuela Superior de Innovación y TecnologíaESIT · Not in the 2023 enrolment file | — | — | — | None listed |
| Escuela Superior Franciscana Especializada AGAPEESFE/AGAPE · Public | 952 | 41% | 0 | 4 |
| Instituto Diplomático “Doctor José Gustavo Guerrero”IDG · Public | 41 | 46% | 41 | 2 |
| Instituto Especializado de Educación Superior El Espíritu SantoPrivate | 216 | 69% | 38 | Not on the list |
| Instituto Especializado de Nivel Superior “Hospital El Salvador”Public | 5 | 40% | 5 | 6 |
| Instituto Especializado de Nivel Superior Kriete de Ingeniería y CienciasI.KEY · Not in the 2023 enrolment file | — | — | — | 3 |
| Instituto Especializado de Profesionales de la SaludIEPROES · Private · 3 campuses | 4,423 | 83% | 21 | 7 |
Technological institutes (4)
Institutos tecnológicos. Alphabetically.
| Institution | Students, Ciclo I 2023 | Women | Postgraduate | Programmes listed, Oct 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Instituto Tecnológico “Padre Segundo Montes”Private | 163 | 60% | 0 | 2 |
| Instituto Tecnológico Americano de Educación SuperiorIAES · Private | 21 | 57% | 0 | 4 |
| Instituto Tecnológico de ChalatenangoITCHA · Public | 615 | 52% | 0 | 7 |
| Instituto Tecnológico Escuela Técnica para la SaludETPS · Private | 489 | 84% | 0 | 2 |
Institutes whose type the sources don't state (1)
Neither the enrolment workbook nor the October 2024 list gives a type for these, and their names don't say.
| Institution | Students, Ciclo I 2023 | Women | Postgraduate | Programmes listed, Oct 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Instituto Superior de Economía y Administración de EmpresasISEADE-FEPADE · Private | 159 | 45% | 159 | 1 |
The three types are the ones MINEDUCYT's statistics use (universidad, instituto especializado, instituto tecnológico); we read each institution's type from its name in the two files and leave it unstated where neither name gives one. Escuela Superior de Innovación y Tecnología and Instituto Especializado de Nivel Superior Kriete de Ingeniería y Ciencias are on the October 2024 list but not in the 2023 enrolment file. Instituto Especializado de Educación Superior El Espíritu Santo is in the enrolment file but not on the October 2024 list. “None listed” means the list names the institution with no programmes under it — a gap in the list, not a statement about what it teaches.
Students by degree type
Ciclo I 2023, all institutions. Degree types are the ministry's. In El Salvador medicine and dental surgery are first degrees titled Doctorado, which the ministry records apart from postgraduate doctorates; Ingeniería and Arquitectura are degree titles, not fields.
| Degree type | Students | Share | Institutions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Técnico (technician) | 18,226 | 9% | 29 |
| Tecnólogo (technologist) | 677 | <1% | 5 |
| Profesorado (teaching qualification) | 2,660 | 1% | 9 |
| Licenciatura (first degree) | 118,685 | 59% | 31 |
| Ingeniería (engineering degree) | 33,444 | 17% | 22 |
| Arquitectura (architecture degree) | 4,430 | 2% | 10 |
| Doctorado, first degree (medicine, dental surgery) | 16,024 | 8% | 9 |
| Especialidad (postgraduate specialisation) | 796 | <1% | 5 |
| Maestría (master's) | 5,551 | 3% | 20 |
| Doctorado, postgraduate (doctorate) | 105 | <1% | 4 |
Where students enrol
Students in Ciclo I 2023 by the department of the campus they are enrolled at (main campuses and regional centres). Places are the department and municipality as the ministry's 2023 workbook records them.
| Department | Campuses | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Ahuachapán | 1 | 1,008 |
| Cabañas | 2 | 2,376 |
| Chalatenango | 3 | 3,458 |
| La Libertad | 12 | 21,261 |
| La Paz | 2 | 1,728 |
| La Unión | 1 | 754 |
| Morazán | 1 | 163 |
| San Miguel | 7 | 25,708 |
| San Salvador | 18 | 109,926 |
| San Vicente | 2 | 3,196 |
| Santa Ana | 8 | 21,475 |
| Sonsonate | 4 | 7,564 |
| Usulután | 1 | 1,981 |
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Fuente: Ministerio de Educación, Ciencia y Tecnología (MINEDUCYT), El Salvador — Dirección Nacional de Educación Superior: “Matrícula 2023” (students enrolled in Ciclo I 2023, published 21 August 2024; read 19 October 2026) and “Listado de carreras vigentes por IES, octubre 2024” (read 21 October 2026). Facts re-stated by CollegeMatcher: names, counts and programme details are MINEDUCYT's; English labels, groupings, sums and title-casing are ours. The ministry's tables, layout and text are not reproduced.