Colombian public university and American foundations in the context of university reforms c. 1960-1966: the cases of Universidad del Valle and the Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Abstract

In the context of University reforms in the first half of the 1960’s, this article  analyzes how the central administration of Universidad del Valle and the Universidad  Nacional de Colombia developed institutional mechanisms to achieve the legitimate  incorporation of the bonding of their institutions with American foundations. From a  documentary research, the analysis considers that the participation of this foundations  in the modernization of the two universities impacted not only the University life as  they constituted a source of funding and technical assistance, but also due to their  influence in the efforts of the central administrations to set up a favoring institutional  context for its acceptance. The paper shows that in these efforts the spaces for the  dissemination of information were relevant, in order for the lecturers and students  to get acquainted with the projects developed by the University and with the diverse  participation that some foundations had in these projects. However, the acceptance  process in these institutions was marked in a different manner depending on the  internal political context.