Agricultural higher education in Colombia and the Faculty Ofagricultural Sciences of the University of Nariño

Abstract

This article of reflection on higher agricultural education in Colombia and the process of creation of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences was developed through consultation that included gathering information and document analysis in the archives of University of Nariño, files of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and the Historical Archives of Pasto. Initially discusses, in general terms, historical events from the XX century, as the exploitation of coffee and other products of special significance for the country economy and events such as worldwide conflicts, national policies and occasional economic situations that framed higher education in Colombia. Next, the analysis focuses on a chronological report from 1913, when the Departmental created the Agronomic Institute, beginning a hectic process of successes and failures during 1935, 1947 and 1953, with the main purpose of creating a college of agriculture. In 1959, the Institute of Agriculture Technology, ITA, that started functioning in 1961, with the objective of training agricultural technicians and agronomists; in 1971, the ITA changed its name to the current Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, FACIA. Since the beginning of labor in 1971, the Faculty has gone over a track of changes and achievements, such as, the agricultural research of high quality, the accreditation of the program of Agronomic Engineering, the graduated programs, the creation of new programs: Agroforest Engineering and Environmental Engineering, and the improvement of professorship that positions the institution at the national and international fields.