Communications Department
74 years ago, the doors of what was and still is the first institution of Higher Education in the Department were opened: the Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS). A dream of several years and illustrious Santander citizens who, after overcoming great obstacles, finally saw their seed germinate with great satisfaction. Although it was a small fruit, it was a collective creation, a joint effort, perhaps the most important enterprise that Santander has had in its history.
The dream of Mario Galán Gómez, who planned to create an industrial university for Santander, had begun to take shape in 1940; that year, by Ordinance 41 of June 21, the creation of the School of Industrial Engineering was approved. With the support previously given to the creation of the Dámaso Zapata Industrial Institute, heir of the School of Arts and Crafts, the Ordinance of July 22, 1944 created the University and contemplated that it would be nurtured with the first promotion of students from the Technical Institute.
“After three attempts in the forties, the Universidad Industrial de Santander was created by the Departmental Assembly, according to Ordinance No. 30 of December 9, 1947” and would begin to operate the following year.
Thus, on March 1, 1948, with the mission of providing a type of education in the branches of mechanical, electrical and chemical engineering, for the training of professionals needed for the industrialization of the department and the country, with 20 students, 11 professors and 3 civil servants, under the rectorship of the engineer Nicanor Pinzón Neira, began its institutional life the Universidad Industrial de Santander.
The celebration
The celebration of the 74th birthday of the Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS) will take place from March 1 to 4 in the company of Herencia, the 3rd Festival of Popular Manifestations, in homage to the “porro sabanero”.
This event is, without a doubt, a space to celebrate diversity and commemorate the 74th anniversary of the founding of the UIS, an educational institution that has received several national and international awards and is one of the most important in the country. For this reason, since 2016, as part of the festival, a popular musical genre is celebrated in its ultimate goal of ensuring the conservation, dissemination and reinterpretation of cultures through the participation of the social fabric that nourishes our community.
For this year’s celebration, the traditional musical manifestation of the Porro is selected, a manifestation adopted in Santander, mainly in Barrancabermeja, given the oil boom in the 30’s, thanks to the arrival of labor from the Colombian Caribbean Coast. Celebrating this musical genre in the Andean region is a way of valuing and rescuing traditions that allow strengthening the Colombian identity, valuing and recognizing oneself from the cultural diversity of the country.
Thanks to this popular tradition of the Caribbean coast that has permeated Santander has sought to create this event of great social projection, which becomes an event that serves to convey the happiness, pride and satisfaction of completing another year as an institution of high quality, as well as presenting a great cultural content to all people who wish to deepen their knowledge about the music and dance of banda papayera or pelayera, precisely through its protagonists: the minstrels and managers in general.
Today, the UIS has the faculties of Sciences, Human Sciences, Physical and Mechanical Engineering, Physical and Chemical Engineering and the Faculty of Health, in addition to the Institute of Regional Projection and Distance Education (IPRED). An important milestone in the development of the UIS was the creation of the Faculty of Human Sciences and Education, which stimulated the development of culture in Santander; the Faculty of Sciences, emblematic for its research, and the Faculty of Health, which in addition to providing a great service to the community is a model of science and research. Engineering continues