The aim was to analyze the equivalence between the 17- and 9-items versions of the Utrech Work Engagement Scale - Student (UWES-S) and the UWES-3S, from an internal analysis (association between versions) and external (associations with exhaustion emotional, academic self-efficacy and sex). The research was quantitative and instrumental. Were evaluated 497 university students (63.4% women; Mage = 20.44; SDage = 3.18) from various professional careers of a private university in Arequipa (region of southern Peru). The results shows that the UWES-9S and UWES-17S are invariant across men and women. Likewise, the association between the UWES-3S and the more extensive versions of the UWES was high (rcorrected > .80). On the other hand, the three versions presented significant associations with emotional exhaustion and academic self-efficacy (r > .20), as well as sex (d > .20), and the magnitude of each association in the UWES-3S did not differ statistically from the found in the other versions. In addition, the reliability indicators were satisfactory and similar (rij > .40). Then, the UWES-3S is an equivalent version to the extensive versions in Peruvian university students.