University of the Andes | Colombia

University of the Andes was founded on November 16th, 1948 by a group of young men under the leadership of Mario Laserna Pinzón. It was the first private higher education institution in Colombia that was non- denominational and independent from traditional political parties, as well as from social or economic power groups. Within this historical context, according to Francisco Pizano de Brigard, one of the founders and former president of the university, “Universidad de los Andes’ birth did not just spring from the desire to found another university, or from a purely educational interest, but from the intention of building a new country with the purpose of shaping and educating the new generations for a new nation.”