This year, the Industrial University of Santander proudly celebrates 30 years of its Law program, a history woven with knowledge, social struggle, and a passion for justice. Since its creation in 1995, this program has not only trained lawyers, but also citizens committed to the defense of human rights, critical thinking, and social transformation in Colombia.
Three decades ago, the UIS decided to open an academic space that would respond to the need to train legal professionals with a humanistic, critical, and ethical vision. It was a dream driven by visionary teachers and courageous students, who found in the classrooms of this public university the setting to build a more just country.
Since then, the program has graduated more than two thousand lawyers who now practice in various fields: the judiciary, academia, public defense, legal research, and social activism. Many of them have taken the name of the UIS to national and international stages, leaving their mark as defenders of just causes, transformers of law, and sowers of hope in forgotten territories.
Today, the law program is not only one of the most recognized in eastern Colombia, but also a national benchmark for its critical approach, its commitment to socio-legal research, and its ongoing commitment to inclusion, equity, and the defense of the social rule of law.
The celebrations for this anniversary are much more than formal events. They are a tribute to every teacher who dedicated their life to teaching, every student who overcame difficulties to become a lawyer, and every graduate who dignified their profession in the service of the community. Above all, they are a reaffirmation of the UIS’s commitment to training professionals capable of thinking of law not as a tool of power, but as a path to peace, justice, and transformation.
Thirty years after its founding, the UIS Law program continues to build the future. May this commemoration serve to look back on the past with gratitude, view the present with pride, and look forward to the future with hope.
