Rafael Urdaneta University; URU (Spanish: Universidad Rafael Urdaneta) is a private, non-profit university founded in 1973, located at La Vereda del Lago (Maracaibo, Venezuela), by the Rafael Urdaneta foundation and the Rafael Urdaneta university civic association. It receives its name from the general Rafael Urdaneta, Zulian father of Venezuelan independence.
Rafael Urdaneta University is a higher education institute whose purpose is to generate and apply the imparted knowledge to contribute to the evolution of the human being and to the formation of professionals with values, independent, competitive and compromised to the scientific, technical and humanistic development of the social environment to elaborate sustainable projects that resolve the problems of the State and the Nation.