.:: Historical Review

The idea of a public and state university, began to take shape shortly after the independence of our country.

Under the command of the vice-president of La Gran Colombia, General Santander, took place the organization of the Universidad Central de la República (with campuses in Bogota, Caracas and Quito), as the first legal-institution for a public University in Colombia. Towards 1830 it started to work with professors and students that kept alive the Botanical Experience.

Soon after, the federal and radical governments closed the Universidad Central, under the arguments of which the universities were education and work monopolies which attempted against the individual freedom. Until 1864, Jose Maria Samper, old radical, submitted a bill to the Congress that he called the Universidad Nacional de los Estados Unidos de Colombia. The 22nd of September, 1867, by means of the Law 66 expedited by the congress, the University was officially funded as such.

During this year the University consisted of six faculties: Law, Medicine, Sciences, Engineering, Arts, Literature and Philosophy. The Astronomical Observatory, the National Museum, the National Chemistry Laboratory, the National Library, the Hospital Caridad and the Military Hospital were also annexed. 

Aerial photography of Bogota campus 1960	Graphic Design Building

Between 1903 and 1940 more than 20 professional careers were created, between which they are: Architecture, Nursing, Pharmacy, Chemical Engineering, Veterinary Medicine, Dentistry and Chemistry. At the end of the 60´s, the graduate programs got an impulse at the Universidad Nacional and the country. The first academic programs at a graduate level were created between 1967 and 1973, but wasn’t until 1986 that the doctorate programs in the country were created in areas like Math and Physics.

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	Sumary of the Campuses