University of Taquari Valley (UNIVATES) (in Portuguese, Universidade do Vale do Taquari) is a private research university based in Lajeado, state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. It currently has 13,235 students. As of 2011, it had 404 full-time teaching staff. It offers 45 courses on the undergraduate level, 4 on the master's level and one on the doctorate (PhD) level, also counting with 28 research projects, mainly on the areas of biology, food technology and biotechnology.