The Universidad Industrial de Santander will offer high quality academic programs in the Department of Arauca as agreed with the Ministry of National Education and the Governor’s Office of that region of Colombia.
The goal is that by the second semester of 2025, three programs will begin to be offered and by 2026-1 four more will be added, with the objective of reaching 20 in the near future and that all of them will be attractive and relevant for the community of Arauca.
“The UIS continues with the process of supporting regionalization and country building through education which is the strongest tool against violence and lack of opportunities. In Arauca we will initially take academic programs that we have as a university and that are relevant to the region,” said Camilo Londoño Sanchez, director of Admissions and Academic Registration UIS.
Likewise, we will be accompanying Arauca, Saravena and the department in general to have their own public university in the future.
“The idea is to accompany from the UIS the process of starting academic training in Arauca until the territory itself takes ownership of this and thus we will be brothers for life. We want to draw the roadmap to reach Arauca with higher education”, emphasized Hernán Porras Díaz, UIS rector.
The working day was held at the UIS central campus in Bucaramanga and was led by the Academic Council, together with delegates from the Ministry of Education and the Government of Arauca.
“We are defining a clear route to soon make possible the presence of the Universidad Industrial de Santander with its offer of academic programs in Arauca. We have a need in terms of access to higher education and we see in the UIS the will, commitment and responsibility to meet this demand and be a suitable ally,” said Renson Jesús Martínez Prada, governor of Arauca.
In order to materialize this dream, the infrastructure of the Rafael Pombo Industrial Technical Educational Institution, located in Saravena, will be intervened. There, an evaluation of the location will be made to detect what is required for this to be the scenario in which classes will be taught, all this with the support of both the Ministry of National Education, the UIS and the Government of Arauca.
“The balance is positive because we have reached important agreements to ensure that the UIS will offer higher education from the second semester of 2025 to Saravena, which is a municipality that has been seeking higher education for a long time. With the Government we have reached an agreement on the physical infrastructure to offer programs in schools and then in the University’s own headquarters,” said Luis Álvaro Gallardo Eraso, director of Higher Education Promotion of the Ministry of National Education.
The department of Arauca has approximately 320,000 inhabitants and since the development plan of the current governor’s office, the question has been raised as to what are the factors that have limited progress in the region. According to its governor, one of them “is violence and the most important has been the lack of access to higher education”, so the fact that the UIS is present in the area will be a benefit for the entire community.
“Thank the rector Hernán Porras for the interest shown in the university in Saravena and Arauca. We left satisfied and happy to move forward with commitments and the idea is to start with some careers for the second semester of 2025 and that for us is a great achievement,” said Juan Ignacio Cifuentes Santos, mayor of Saravena.
The work between the UIS, the Government of Arauca and the Ministry of Education will continue in the coming days in order to advance regionalization and country building through education.
