The story
Establishment and early years
Since the late 19th century the idea of creating a university in Cali had been an ambition of the people of the city and of the Valle del Cauca Department, and was continuously discussed and mentioned in the local newspapers. At the time, the only further education degrees awarded in the department were awarded by the Santa Librada College in Cali and the Academic College of Buga, which focused on the liberal arts. In the 1940s, the necessity for qualified professionals that could supply the demand of the new industrial sector of Valle del Cauca made it clear that an institution focusing on scientific and technological education was of strategic importance to the development of the region. Despite the idea of its creation being met with some skepticism, the University of Valle was established by the ordinance number 12 of June 11, 1945, by the Departmental Assembly as the Universidad Industrial del Valle del Cauca. The leaders behind the establishment of the university were Tulio Ramírez Rojas, born in La Union Valle, who would become the first rector of the university, and Severo Reyes Gamboa, the departmental secretary of education at the time.
The university began its work in 1945 in a small house located in downtown Cali, with faculties of Agronomy, Business, and Nursing. In 1946 the Faculty of Chemistry was established, followed by the Faculty of Architecture in 1947, and in 1948 the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, which changed its name in 1949 to the Faculty of Electromechanical Engineering. At this early stage, the university faced its first financial crisis, a situation that was preceded by the destitution of the rector Ramírez in 1949 by political reasons, and caused by the diminishing support of the local government. The crisis, which almost ended in the university closure in 1950, would represent one of many chapters of the financial difficulties faced by the university in its history.
After the crisis was overcome, in 1950 the Faculty of Medicine was established, and began its work in 1951 on the campus of the Santa Librada College. Then, in 1954 started the construction of the San Fernando campus for the Faculties of Medicine, Nursing, and Architecture. This same year, by ordinance number 10 of 1954, the university changed its name to Universidad del Valle, established as part of the university government an Academic Council and an Administrative Council, the latter with the participation of representatives of different sectors of the community.
In 1955, under the tutelage of rector Mario Carvajal, the university opened the School of Graduate Studies in Medicine, and its publishing house was established under the name of University of Valle Library (Spanish: Biblioteca de la Universidad del Valle). In 1957, the university began its technical and further education programs with the establishment of the schools of Medical Laboratory Technicians and Engineering Auxiliaries in Topography and Roads. At the end of the 1950s, the university comprised five faculties and three schools, 556 students, 174 professors, and 159 administrative staff. Its budget had risen to $5.73 million COP and its patrimony to approximately $20 million COP.
Academic consolidation and the student movement
In 1962, the Office of University Planning was established with the objective of developing a general plan for the university, which included the construction of a new campus, and the development of the regional university system by the creation of satellite campuses in the intermediate cities of the department. The new campus, located in the southern part of the city was construed on donated land and financed by a loan requested from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the creation of a revenue stamp, and the request for a part of the land value tax revenues of the adjacent neighborhoods. In 1964 the Schools and Faculties were reorganized into Divisions and Departments, which translated into an increased academic activity. At the time, five divisions were established with the reorganization: Architecture, Economy, Engineering, Health, and Sciences; and two more were created: Education and Humanities. By 1968 the university begun its internationalization process and an increment of its postgraduate programs, thanks to several donations made by several foreign foundations. By the end of the 1960s, the university had 5302 students, 453 full-time and 174 part-time professors, of which 9% had a Doctorate, 20% a Masters, and 21% a Specialist degree.
At this time, the first serious student revolts started to emerge, motivated by the local and global changes of the decade, like the Vietnam war, the European student movement, the presence of the Peace Corps in Latin-America and specially in Colombia, the rejection of the IDB loan and the presence of the foreign foundations. On February 15, 1971, after the unconsulted election of the Dean of the Division of Social Science and Economics, some students took the rectory. This marked the first incursion of the police force to the university campus, and 11 students and four soldiers were killed on February 26 in the fight to retake the campus. For these events, some professors and students were expelled of the university. Nevertheless, the support for the rector dropped, who had to resign. Since mid February to April, the university was closed until the new rector was appointed.
In 1975 the university changed again its organizational structure into Faculties, and new programs were created, for example Social Communication and Journalism, Social Work were established in the Faculty of Humanities. In 1977, in order to avoid the desertion of several faculty members, it was established the professorship career system based in academic, investigative, and administrative merits. In 1976, with the creation of the Socio Economical Research Center, the first steps into the creation of the Sociology program in 1978 were taken.
Social projection, research and technological development
In 1983, the Department of Administration branched out of the Faculty of Engineering and constituted the actual Faculty of Administration Sciences. In 1985, the Professorial Statute Committee was created to determine the procedures related to the professorial career. The same year, the first agreements for the development of joint research projects were signed with the Ministry of National Education, COLCIENCIAS, the UNESCO, and the OAS, among others. This agreements are the cornerstone for the development in the 1990s of the Doctoral degrees offered by the university. Also, in the 1980s, and thanks to the establishment of a revenue stamp by the Congress of the Republic, the university began the establishment of its satellite campuses. At first, the courses presented in this campuses were only foundation courses, which required to the students its finalization in the main campus to obtain their degrees, until 1995, when all the satellite campuses allowed the finalization of the program.
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In 1994, the Institute of Education and Pedagogy and the School of Psychology are established. In 1995, from the fusion of the faculty of Architecture, and the programs of Social Communication, Drama, and Music is established the Faculty of Integrated Arts. This same year, the accreditation process of all the programs was carried out.
The incomes from the revenue stamp created a surplus in the university finances, which were poorly administrated. Excessive amounts of the budget were directed to the establishment of research institutes and centers, creation of new professorial chairs, and the construction of several buildings, the establishment of a technological infrastructure, including Internet access, creating a deficit in the universities accounts. This situation, together with the increasing cost of the retirement plans and the delay in its payments, were the causes of the financial and institutional crisis of 1998, which ended in the closure of the university in the second semester of 1998 and the suspension of payment to all the academic and administrative staff members.
Institutional accreditation and current standing
In early 1999, the university restarted its operations after several difficulties. The work of Rectors Emilio Aljure Nasser and Oscar Rojas Rentería, allowed the creation of the Retirement Fund in 2000 with the participation of the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, the Governor of Valle del Cauca and the university, which has managed since then the retirement plans for all the staff. Also, the debt contracted with the private banking sector was renegotiated and will be paid in full by 2010, and the wages were paid.
In 2000 a new curricular adjustment was made, with the objective to fulfill all the quality accreditation requirements. In 2001 the coverage was increased by the aperture of the programs each semester and the creation of nocturnal courses. The same year, the research system was implemented and the Publishing House was reopened.
From Wikipedia’s article on University of Valle, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4