The UBV is a part of the Chávez government's "Mission Sucre" social programs, which aim to provide free higher education to the poor.

[1] The education programme at the UBV is generally in line with Hugo Chávez's socialist vision of a Latin American "Bolivarian Revolution".

Opposition leader Julio Borges though, labels it a "thinly disguised propaganda factory that takes advantage of the country's most vulnerable citizens".

Maria Ejilda Castellano, the rector of the Bolivarian University in Caracas, has said that the institution is designed to benefit the poor precisely by encouraging the open exchange of ideas.

Castellano said that the Bolivarian University is based on UNESCO principles for education and that "The professional produced by this institution will work for the transformation of society.