The University of Taquari Valley (UNIVATES, Portuguese: Universidade do Vale do Taquari) is a private research university based in Lajeado, state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

[2][3][4][5] The institution has over 109 laboratories, a start-up incubator, a culture center, a hydro-meteorological information center, a Natural Science museum, a radio and TV station and an olympic stadium.

[9][10][11] In 2013 Univates scored as the 4th best private university center (medium-sized higher education institutions) in Brazil according to MEC's General Courses Index (IGC).

[12][13] In 2015, CAPES selected a Univates project for research and innovation on Teacher Education among with 9 other in the whole country, with a grant of approximately R$1,700.000.

[14][15][16] A 2005 study showed that the institution has a significant impact on the economics of the city of Lajeado and the Vale do Taquari [pt] region, providing respectively 3.36% and 0.97% of the total amount of working places in that year.