El Salvador University
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The University of El Salvador (UES) is the oldest and largest institution of higher education in the Republic of El Salvador, and the only public university in the country. Its headquarters, the University City, is located in San Salvador; and it also has regional headquarters in the cities of Santa Ana, San Miguel and San Vicente. It also has a Technological Center for Agriculture and Livestock, located in the Station Experimental and Practices of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, in the municipality of San Luis Talpa, La Paz. Due to its historicity, its influence, its number of students, its academic offer, its expansion throughout the country and the dimensions of each one of its headquarters -the main ones in each of the four regions into which the nation is divided-, the UES is, by far, the main center of higher education studies in the entire Salvadoran republic.
The UES is made up of nine historical faculties located in the Ciudad Universitaria, together with three multidisciplinary faculties in the interior of the country, which together teach various higher education courses. The headquarters houses the structure of the university government, the University Editorial, the University Bookstore, the University Wellness Clinic, the YSUES radio and the Central Library, which is added to nine more libraries -one for each faculty-, as well as other autonomous portfolios. It also has the Sports Complex of the University of El Salvador, the setting where part of the XIX Central American and Caribbean Games were held. This sports complex is currently the headquarters of the UES Sports Club, a Salvadoran soccer team.
This house of higher studies is considered a political force due to its academic, student, administrative and infrastructure importance, which has been reflected in different periods of importance in El Salvador; especially since the end of the 19th century, the era of liberal governments and the so-called coffee republic; the era of military authoritarianism; the civil war; the peace agreements and today. Undoubtedly, the UES has played a fundamental role in the development process of Salvadoran society in the educational, social, scientific, economic and political spheres. Some of the most important characters in the history of El Salvador have been trained at this alma mater. Her symbol is the Roman deity Minerva, the Latin equivalent of the Greek goddess Athena.
Since 2016, this institution has launched the new model of the University of El Salvador online, a modality of distance education which, in addition to facilitating the population's access to university courses just by having a computer with connection to the Internet, has expanded to 16 UES sub-offices throughout the national territory for exams, laboratories, tutorials, among other activities in which, eventually, a blended modality is required. The 16 aforementioned sub-offices are strategically located located in different localities of the 14 departments of the republic, in such a way that no person has a sub-site of the Online University more than 30 km away. Although other private universities already have distance education modalities for Salvadorans in the abroad or blended modalities at the postgraduate level, this is, by far, the largest university coverage at the undergraduate level within the territory of the republic.
History
Background: basic and secondary education
In 1770, San Salvador submitted to King Carlos III of Spain the request to create a Catholic bishopric and an educational institution in its respective territory.
In the Cortes of Cádiz, the deputy for San Salvador, José Ignacio Ávila, presented on March 21, 1812 a petition for its inhabitants to have an educational center for the youth of that town, in accordance with the provisions of the Church in the Council of Trent. For his part, the deputy for Sonsonate before the Spanish courts, José Mariano Méndez y Cordero, requested in 1821 that secondary education centers be established in Cartago, Comayagua, San Salvador, Santa Ana and Quezaltenango.
In July 1823, one of the deputies of the Constituent Assembly that would approve the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Central America of 1824, proposed the adoption of the Lancastrian system for schools in the new country. With this educational method developed by Joseph Lancaster and Andrew Bell in the United Kingdom, the most advantaged students, under the supervision of a teacher, would give instruction to the beginners. At the beginning of 1824, the diplomats of the Central American Federation received instructions to contract the services of qualified teachers to put the Lancastrian system into practice.
In 1825, what was later the Salvadoran school was completely abandoned. There were few primary schools in the main cities of the country. Instruction was rudimentary and anything was taught because there was no defined plan for national education. This was a difficult period as forced recruitment, economic decline, and widespread instability affected the fledgling school system left behind by the Spanish.
By legislative decree of April 29, 1825, the establishment of a scientific education college for young people was ordered, who, due to their nature, talent and disposition, indicated that they were apt or capable of receiving it. But this law was never applied. By legislative decree of September 5, 1832, it was declared that it was the government's obligation to establish primary schools in all towns that have or should have a municipality. By executive decree of September 8 On October 1832, a Board of Public Education was established in each departmental capital, equivalent to a Technical School Department, which would form the political chief, the dean councilor, the local Catholic priest and two of the most renowned neighbors for their illustration. and his ideas in favor of civilization. At the beginning of 1831, the Catholic priest Narciso Monterrey managed to found a school in the capital that disappeared shortly after its creation.
In 1832, the Brazilian teacher José Coelho, who had worked in Guatemala teaching with the Lancastrian system, was hired by the Salvadoran government. Upon his arrival in the country, José Coelho founded in 1833 the school known as & # 34; La Aurora de El Salvador & # 34;, which would give way to the subsequent creation of a normal school in 1858.
By executive decree of February 3, 1841, it was ordered to establish primary schools in all towns and valleys that had more than one hundred and fifty inhabitants. But more than a realistic policy, this law was a declaration of the commitment of the government with education, since by 1848 that goal had not been achieved.
At that time there were several attempts to found an institution of higher education for the country. In 1836, Antonio José Cañas, Narciso Monterrey and Francisco Dueñas spoke publicly in this regard without obtaining any favorable results. Isidro Menéndez and Francisco Malespín, like Antonio José Cañas and Narciso Monterrey, dreamed of establishing a Salvadoran university; but the scarcity of funds and the lack of teachers opposed it. It would be necessary to wait until 1841 for El Salvador to finally have its own house of higher studies.
19th century
The foundation of the UES and the first years of its existence
The University of El Salvador was founded on February 16, 1841, by Legislative Decree of the Constituent Assembly, issued during the mandate of the President of the Republic, Juan Lindo, before the decisive intervention of General Francisco Malespín. The university community, faced with this historical fact, considers Juan Lindo as the founder of the first higher education center in the country; but some historians reject this idea, alleging that the legislative decree for the erection of the soul mater was never approved by presidential initiative; or arguing that the birth of the UES is due exclusively to the work of the Constituent Assembly that legally established it; or by affirming that Juan Lindo actually opposed the creation of this public university The UES was established with the objective of providing a center of higher education for the national youth, and thus prevent Salvadorans who had the possibility and desire to pursue higher studies, deciding to emigrate to Guatemala or Nicaragua to complete their academic training., respectively, at the University of San Carlos or the University of León, as they did since colonial times. The Legislative Decree of the Foundation of the University of El Salvador was issued at the initiative of the deputies of the Constituent Assembly, Narciso Monterrey and Antonio José Cañas, and signed the same day it was approved by President Juan Lindo. In its early years, the UES had a precarious existence due to the meager financial support it received from the State.
Previously, on February 2, 1841, El Salvador had been formally declared an independent State of the extinct Federal Republic of Central America by the same Constituent Assembly that would approve the legislative decree creating the UES, and that would later issue also the Constitution of February 18, 1841, with which the one that had been issued on June 12, 1824 was repealed. The bases of this new Constitution had already been established by this same collegiate body by legislative decree of the July 24, 1840. This Constituent Assembly would begin its sessions on June 23, 1840 and close them on February 19, 1841.
The UES was born at the same time that El Salvador began to organize itself as an independent State of the now defunct Central American Federation and under a strong influence of the Catholic Church. However, the identity of the University of El Salvador was formed while it took leading role in the development of historical events, as is the case of the Liberal Agrarian Reform executed by the government of President Rafael Zaldívar, with the laws of extinction of communal and ejido lands of 1881 and 1882, respectively, in which academics University students made a strong questioning about this reverse agrarian reform, and that is how with events like this the beginning of a critical university was recognized.
By the same Legislative Decree of February 16, 1841, a secondary education center, known as the "Colegio de la Asunción", was founded jointly with the University of El Salvador, with the purpose of preparing the bachelors who would later enter to study at the alma mater.
The College of the Assumption was installed on October 16, 1841 in the building that had belonged to the Catholic convent of San Francisco. The first enrollment was eight students, of which only one completed his degree. Its first rector was the Catholic priest Crisanto Salazar, who lasted in office until February 1842. The UES, meanwhile, had reserved its space in this same premises, on whose main façade the inscription "El General of the University". On May 15, 1843, by order of President Juan José Guzmán, Dr. Eugenio Aguilar was appointed rector of the University of El Salvador and professor of philosophy, who would carry out his work within the UES until the end of 1845; and although the opening of his classes had been announced for July 1, 1843, they only began to be taught by him from August 11, 1843, with the daily attendance of 23 students. Later Eugenio Aguilar he would come to occupy the presidential chair between 1846 and 1848. But the alma mater would have to wait until 1847 to start university life proper when it received the first 23 bachelors graduated in 1846 at the Colegio de la Asunción. In June 1846, during the government of President Eugenio Aguilar, the construction of an own building for the UES was ordered. The first statutes of the alma mater, meanwhile, were issued by the Executive Branch on December 20, 1847; although they would later be submitted for approval by the bicameral Salvadoran parliament, which finally decided to issue new statutes for the UES on February 27, 1849.
The first graduate of the class of 1846 from the Colegio de la Asunción was the young Ireneo Chacón when he obtained his Bachelor's Diploma in Civil Law. Ireneo Chacón would also become the first graduate of the UES upon receiving his bachelor's degree, and some years later he would become the first rector of the alma mater formed within it. His bachelor's degree was obtained in 1851 by the Faculty of Jurisprudence.
By means of the executive decree of March 21, 1841, the Specific Treasury of Public Instruction was created, whose object of collection would be the products of the Receptoría de Zacatecoluca. With these funds, the aim was to revive the work of the UES.
The increase in the number of students meant that the first location of the Colegio de la Asunción was insufficient to meet the demand for admission to its classrooms. For this reason, on December 3, 1844, it was transferred to the premises that had housed the former Catholic convent of Santo Domingo. However, the Colegio de la Asunción was about to close in 1844 due to the scarcity of financial resources necessary to his support, for which his rector asked President Francisco Malespín for help, who gave him his epaulettes of pure gold and a sword with a handle of the same precious metal, as well as a silver helmet, so that the rector pawned those objects and thus paid the debts contracted in order for the Colegio de la Asunción to continue operating. But the rector returned those items to him because he obtained the necessary money to cover the amount owed by other means.
At the UES, from the moment its real life began, the first chairs were founded and organized and the first written and oral exams were taken. And around 1850 the different faculties of the UES began to be outlined.
The influence of the Catholic clergy in the educational activities of the Colegio de la Asunción was very great. Students were subjected to a severe disciplinary regime and any reading that was not prepared beforehand was prohibited. Academic activities were based on an exclusively religious concept of life. In 1845, faced with the rebellious attitude shown by the Salvadoran youth against this repressive educational system and enemy of free thought, the first Catholic bishop of San Salvador, Jorge de Viteri y Ungo, known for his intolerant and authoritarian actions, intervened in this student conflict. ordering the expulsion of seven young people from the Colegio de la Asunción, to which they no longer returned.
The government of the UES, in accordance with the statutes of December 20, 1847, was divided between the Full Senate, made up of all academics at the national level; the Cloister of Advisors, made up of university professors from the different sections and two representatives from each of the classes, who were elected by the Plenary Cloister; and the Senate of the Treasury, made up of five members in charge of the funds of the UES, who were also elected by the Plenary Senate. By majority vote, the Plenary Senate appointed the rector, vice-rector, secretary, treasurer and librarian of the alma mater. President Eugenio Aguilar is considered by various sources as the true first rector of the UES; despite the fact that the The same lists of rectors that appear in the official publications of the alma mater give such a distinction to Dr. Crisanto Salazar, who really was the first rector of the Colegio de la Asunción. This is due to the fact that these rectors were founded at the same time two educational establishments, there have been errors as to who was the first rector of each of them, since the Colegio de la Asunción began its activities before the UES began.
By Executive Decree of November 15, 1847, published in the Gaceta de El Salvador No. 36, Volume No. 1, of November 26, 1847, President Eugenio Aguilar establishes a chair at the Colegio de la Asunción of medicine. This date is considered by the university community as the date of the founding of the Faculty of Medicine; although it and the Protomedicato were organized until February 28, 1849, according to a news item published in the Gaceta de Medicina. El Salvador No. 1, Volume No. 2, of March 2, 1849.
The life of the UES as a cloistered university
The government of President Doroteo Vasconcelos tried to limit the influence of the Catholic clergy in the UES, whose members occupied two thirds of the Senate Council, and at the same time, promoted the approval of the legislative decree of 28 before the bicameral Salvadoran congress. of February 1849, which levied half a percent on the inventory succession asset in favor of national education and that the rector and the cloister should collect, destined for the university treasury; and on October 3, 1850, it ordered that the Peculiar Treasury of Public Instruction, in the capital, and the administrators of alcabalas in the departments, collect the tax established in the aforementioned legislative decree, entrusting the departmental governors and first instance judges with the monitoring compliance.
On November 19, 1850, the teaching of chemistry was established by Julio Rossignón, for which the Faculty of Pharmacy was created. At that time, there was the idea that university studies should only serve to prepare professionals for public office such as President of the Republic or Minister of State. But Julio Rossignón, deviating from that criterion, highlighted the importance of the chemistry subject to promote the industrial and economic development of the country. And that was how the Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy began its activities on November 19, 1850 under the name of Faculty of Pharmacy. In 1961, its own building was inaugurated in the Ciudad Universitaria and in 1973 it underwent a reorganization process.
By means of the legislative decree of February 6, 1852, it was established that for each head of cattle that was introduced into the country, whether it was transit or destined for internal consumption, two reales would be paid in effective currency for all rights at the time of its introduction, and also providing that this money would be used entirely and exclusively for the UES.
On July 31, 1853, the government of President Francisco Dueñas inaugurated the first building built with the intention of it being occupied by the UES. However, said building was destroyed by the earthquake that devastated the capital on July 16 on April 1854. Faced with this public calamity, President José María San Martín ordered on July 10, 1854 the transfer of the UES and the Colegio de la Asunción to San Vicente, where they would remain for four years, when President Gerardo Barrios ordered his return to San Salvador on September 16, 1858, restarting activities in a private house until April 9, 1861, when the old reconstructed building was inaugurated.
Some new statutes were approved for the alma mater on December 5, 1854, which divided the government of the UES into the Plenary Senate, made up of all the doctors and graduates, with the exception of those who were not incorporated into it; the Cloister of Counselors, made up of the rector, secretary, professors of the classes and a representative of each one of the major classes; and the Cloister of the Treasury, made up of three members of the Cloister of Advisors with the mission of exercising control of all income and expenses of the alma mater. But during his stay in San Vicente, the UES fell into a period of prostration, due to the epidemics of fever and cholera that affected the university community, decreasing the number of students and professors, and only producing mediocre results, which would lead the government of President Miguel Santín del Castillo to make the decision to hand over to the Society of Jesus, according to various sources, the address of the alma mater, or only that of the Colegio de la Asunción. In any case, the Salvadoran authorities took steps to bring a group of Jesuits from Guatemala; but the coming to power of Gerardo Barrios prevented that project from being carried out.
President Gerardo Barrios, by means of the executive decree of September 6, 1859, abolished the Claustro de Consiliarios, which was the Governing Board of the UES, replacing it with the Council of Public Instruction, made up of the rector, the vice-rector, a representative from each section of the alma mater, a secretary and a deputy secretary, all appointed by the government. With this action, Gerardo Barrios removed the Catholic clergy, who were sheltered in the Claustro de Consiliarios, from the government of the alma mater in order to carry out the application of his liberal ideas. New statutes for the UES were also approved that same year. In addition to all this, Gerardo Barrios decided to send several scholarship holders to study in Europe, but when he verified that this measure did not yield the expected results, he decided to have professors come from the abroad to teach classes at the UES.
In this way, it is evident that the UES, from its foundation until 1859, emulated a university model with the typical characteristics of colonial universities; without ignoring that at the same time modern and critical visions of traditional practices and precepts coexisted.
With the last government of President Francisco Dueñas, which would cover the period from 1863 to 1871, the hegemony of the Catholic clergy returned to the UES. But Francisco Dueñas, although he was of a conservative tendency, maintained for the most part the work done at the UES by his predecessor Gerardo Barrios.
In the state newspaper El Constitucional of August 19, 1864, issued during the government of President Francisco Dueñas, the study plan of the Faculty of Surveying was published. In 1879, the Faculty of Civil Engineering was created in its place. Its foundation obeyed the need of the landowners to delimit the agricultural properties because the extinction project of the ejidos and the indigenous communities was already perceived. Already in that same year of 1879 the rector of the UES complained that there was no Salvadoran capable of designing a bridge. But other sources, in a contradictory manner, maintain that it was not until June 28, 1927 that the opening of the School of Civil Engineering was approved and that in May 1933 they graduated the first civil engineers; and apart from that, for expressing that in the 1930s the Faculty of Engineering changed its name to the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture in order to incorporate two young Salvadorans who had graduated as architects abroad, which was done in 1935; or, by stating that the current Faculty of Engineering and Architecture was finally founded in the 1960s.
On January 8, 1866, the UES decided to grant a doctorate to President Francisco Dueñas and to the rector himself and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Public Instruction, Gregorio Arbizú, who until then had been graduates. Francisco Dueñas had been rector of the UES some years before.
In 1866 the government of President Francisco Dueñas had decided to abolish the Colegio de la Asunción, officially known at the time as the "National College". However, that educational center continued to function and on March 5, 1867, Dr. Darío González was appointed as its director. But the Colegio de la Asunción or Colegio Nacional was destined to disappear, and the latest news of its existence refers to the exams carried out on September 13, 1869. On January 19, 1872, the government of President Santiago González decided to ceding the National College building to Camilo Escobar, but upon verifying that he had not organized any classes in that location, he repealed that provision on November 12, 1872; and once said building was recovered, it was ordered to found a Central Normal School in it under the direction of the Spanish citizen Fernando Velarde.
University autonomy for the UES was recognized for the first time by Legislative Decree of October 23, 1871, published in the Official Gazette No. 47, Volume No. 1, of April 6, 1872, which was approved by the Constituent Assembly that had issued the Constitution on October 16, 1871, to be ratified by the bicameral Salvadoran parliament on March 11, 1872. However, this university autonomy did not go from being a dead letter because the government continued to intervene in the internal affairs of the alma mater.
A new earthquake that struck the capital on March 19, 1873 destroyed the building that had been occupied by the UES since 1861. As a result of this new natural disaster, the UES temporarily settled in the old National Palace that would be consumed by a fire on November 19, 1889, although later it would wander through various places. Subsequently, the government of President Rafael Zaldívar decided to permanently assign a new building recently built to the alma mater, by Executive Agreement of September 18, 1878, published in the Official Gazette No. 223, Volume No. 5, of September 20, 1878.
During the government of President Santiago González, two other public institutions of higher education were established: the Universidad de Occidente and Universidad de Oriente, with their respective headquarters in the cities of Santa Ana and San Miguel. The Universidad de Occidente was created through Executive Decree of September 22, 1874, published in the Official Gazette No. 14, Volume No. 3, of September 26, 1874. And for its part, the Universidad de Oriente was created by Executive Decree of October 1874, published in the Official Gazette No. 18, Volume No. 3, of October 17, 1874. However, these educational institutions were suppressed by the government of President Rafael Zaldívar through the Organic Law and Public Instruction Regulations, approved by Executive Decree of January 30, 1885, published in the Official Gazette No. 26, Volume No. 18, of January 30, 1885. With the disappearance of these two public universities, the UES It returned to have the monopoly of higher education in the country until 1965, when the José Simeón Cañas Central American University (UCA) was born as the first Salvadoran private university.
By Executive Agreement of January 30, 1875, published in the Official Gazette No. 16, Volume No. 1, of February 2, 1875, the government of President Santiago González decided to print a university newspaper in the national typography for account of the national treasury. It was then that the first number of the magazine "La Universidad" appeared on May 5, 1875, as the official organ for the dissemination of the scientific and cultural work of the UES, although said publication was actually born as a newspaper, having acquired the status of a magazine in 1888. However, other sources differ on this point, pointing out that by 1880 the UES still lacked its own newspaper, and that the government of the president Rafael Zaldívar arranged for one to be produced in the state printing press, or, more specifically, it was ordered by Executive Agreement of September 20, 1880, published in the Official Gazette No. 221, Volume No. 9, of September 22, 1880, that a section of that state newspaper was designated for the publication of articles written by members of the university community. And that was how the "University Section" It appeared for the first time in the Official Gazette No. 231, Volume No. 9, of October 8, 1880. Apart from this, other sources contradictorily affirm that around 1888, during the government of President Francisco Menéndez, the magazine La University, either as the first publication of this genre made in the UES, or, where appropriate, to replace another magazine called "La Universidad Nacional", which had been founded in 1875.
The change of the UES towards a scientific university
With the government of President Rafael Zaldívar began the transformation of the UES from a cloistered university to a scientific university. Even in the ceremonies for the opening of classes held after January 1, 1879, the Catholic clergy ceased to participate. But it would be under the government of President Francisco Menéndez that the process of converting the alma mater from a Catholic denominational educational institution to a secular one would end with the definitive disappearance of the theology faculty of university education.
The statutes of the UES published on October 19, 1880 organized the government of the alma mater in a Superior Council of Public Instruction made up of the rector, vice-rector, general secretary, pro-secretary, prosecutor and a counselor for each faculty, all they were appointed by the government, with the exception of the advisors, who were elected by all the country's academics.
Since the time the UES was founded, law professorships had been taught and lawyers had graduated; but the Faculty of Law would only be created until October 19, 1880 with the official name of the Faculty of Jurisprudence and Political and Social Sciences, which would change its name in 1918 to the Faculty of Jurisprudence and Social Sciences. But other sources disagree on this matter by asserting that the foundation of the Faculty of Law dates back to the same year as the birth of the UES, and that it was divided shortly before the approval of the statutes published on October 19, 1880 into two different entities: the Faculty of Jurisprudence and the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences.
The Organic and Regulatory Law of Public Instruction, which was approved and published on January 30, 1885 by the government of President Rafael Zaldívar, annulled university autonomy by submitting the UES to the Executive Branch. But with the arrival of the government of President Francisco Menéndez, the Executive Agreement of August 12, 1885 was approved, published in the Official Gazette No. 184, Volume No. 19, of August 13, 1885, which suspended the effects of this regulation and returned to declare in force the statutes issued on October 14, 1880, until February 16, 1886 when the new statutes of the UES were published, with which the university autonomy was returned to the alma mater. However, another source affirms in a contradictory way that by means of the Organic and Regulatory Law of Public Instruction, which was approved and published on January 30, 1885 by the government of President Rafael Zaldívar, it was decided to replace the UES and the Universities. of the West and of the East, the latter created by the government of President Santiago González in 1874, by a group of professional schools totally independent from each other; but that on August 12, 1885, the government of President Francisco Menéndez suspended the effects of this regulation and returned to declare the statutes issued on October 14, 1880 in force; and that finally, by the statutes approved on February 15, 1886, the UES was fully reestablished and granted university autonomy; and that the professional schools, for their part, were definitively extinguished; while the Western and Eastern Universities, suppressed by the government of President Rafael Zaldívar in 1885, no longer reappeared. However, the same government of President Francisco Menéndez decided to subsequently suppress university autonomy by Executive Decree of December 26 of 1887, published in the Official Gazette No. 303, Volume No. 23, of December 28, 1887.
The government of President Francisco Menéndez, once it abolished university autonomy, fully intervened in the academic life of the UES when it created medicine, chemistry, pharmacy and mineralogy laboratories; he founded the zoological and mineralogical museums of antiquities; established the rectory library; and when he organized several scientific expeditions; among other activities. By Executive Agreement of December 9, 1871, published in the Official Gazette No. 34, Volume No. 1, of December 16, 1871, the government of President Santiago González decided to donate the National Library to the University of El Salvador; but that situation came to an end when the government of President Francisco Menéndez ordered that it be separated from the alma mater, by Executive Agreement of September 21, 1887, published in the Official Gazette No. 220, Volume No. 23, of September 22, 1887.
The government of President Rafael Zaldívar decided to replace the UES with a group of totally independent professional schools; but that measure was reversed by the government of President Francisco Menéndez, who, curiously, later proposed this same project of creating professional schools to the university community; but this was not carried out due to the opposition of the members of the alma mater. However, on June 27, 1890, the government of President Carlos Ezeta decided to abolish the Higher Council for Public Instruction and the rectorate of the UES, creating professional schools instead, in order to make the frustrated dream of Francisco Menendez. In any case, that measure was repealed on September 25, 1890, although it would be reapplied through executive decrees of April 2 and 6, 1894, only to be annulled again on June 16, 1894. On the other hand, new statutes were approved for the UES on February 14, 1891.
The government of President Rafael Antonio Gutiérrez, faced with the criticism expressed against it by the student press, decided to reform the disciplinary regime of the UES to prohibit students from publishing offensive writings against the authorities of the alma mater, thereby which had the legal pretext to expel from the UES in the last days of 1897 two students who were the directors of the university newspaper "El Látigo": José Gustavo Guerrero and Vicente Trigueros. In support of these sanctioned students, their other classmates began a strike at the beginning of 1898, for which the UES was closed by the government. In response to this last action by Rafael Antonio Gutiérrez, the students agreed to found the "Universidad Libre de El Salvador", whose existence was short-lived for economic reasons, since it only functioned from January 19 to February 5, 1898. However, the student rebellion earned the sympathy of public opinion, which forced Rafael Antonio Gutiérrez to rectify his behavior, reopening the alma mater and granting it university autonomy by executive decree of September 28, 1898, which It was never applied because it was prevented by the coup d'état of November 14, 1898, which led General Tomás Regalado to occupy the presidential office and forced the closure of the UES again. With his arrival in power, the UES was reopened by executive decree of January 7, 1899, and its statutes were revised; but university autonomy no longer reappeared, because by means of the Executive Decree of January 31, 1899, published in the Official Gazette No. 26, Volume No. 46, of January 31, 1899, the new government decided to annul the effects of that measure; and at the same time, provided through executive agreement approved and published on that same date in the Official Gazette, that the rector, the secretary and the prosecutor of the UES, would be appointed by the Executive Branch; while the members of the Council of Public Instruction would be elected by all the academics of the alma mater.
20th century
The UES in the first three decades of the new century
Positivists such as Gerardo Barrios, David J. Guzmán and Santiago I. Barberena, transformed the University of El Salvador from 1860 and gave more emphasis to the profession and experimentation. Positivist thought was dominant until the beginning of the 20th century and it was not until 1910 that it returned to humanism and vitalism. At that time, characters such as Alberto Masferrer, Francisco Gavidia and Salarrué reacted to positivism. The University of El Salvador began to break with the professional emphasis in 1944 through an educational revolution that prioritized the academic development of its teaching staff and its libraries; He democratized university admissions, invited distinguished visiting professors and carried out an extensive scientific research program, which gave the University of El Salvador a high degree of prestige at an international level. This historical period is remembered as "the golden age of the UES".
By Legislative Decree of March 14, 1901, published in the Official Gazette No. 140, Volume No. 54, of June 13, 1903, the Public Instruction Council and the rectorate of the UES were abolished, establishing professional schools instead. It was for this reason that President Pedro José Escalón, in his message read before the Salvadoran Congress in 1905, expressed that the professional faculties organized by virtue of the legislative decree of dissolution of the UES functioned with all regularity. In this way, the UES was replaced by this class of educational institutions for almost six years, until it was finally reestablished as of January 1, 1909 by Executive Decree of December 15, 1908, published in the Official Gazette No. 296, Volume No. 65., of December 17, 1908. Thus, the government of the UES was established by the rector, the professors of the respective faculty and the secretary, who would act as prosecutor. All constituted what was called the Board of Directors that would intervene in the respective affairs of each faculty. On February 24, 1913, the new statutes of the UES were published and on March 1, 1913, the building of the School of Medicine was inaugurated.. But in 1914 the government of the UES was restructured into a University Council made up of the rector, general secretary, deans and secretaries of the faculties (officially called "schools"), two professors appointed by their respective boards of directors and a prosecutor.
Under the Organic and Regulatory Law of Public Instruction, which was approved and published on January 30, 1885 by the government of President Rafael Zaldívar, a new university study plan was approved that included for the first time the special profession of dentist that would be attached to the Faculty of Medicine, which could not be applied due to the fall of Rafael Zaldívar before the triumph of the insurrectional movement that brought Francisco Menéndez to power in that same year, although in this new government the restoration of dentistry studies. But it was during the government of President Tomás Regalado when the executive decree of December 15, 1889 was issued that established the special profession of dentist as an annex to the Faculty of Medicine. This executive decree came into force on January 1, 1900. And that was how the Dental Office was created, which would become the Faculty of Dentistry on December 27, 1920 with Dr. José Llerena as its first dean. But another source, in a different way, maintains that during the government of President Francisco Menéndez an executive decree was issued for the founding of what is now the School of Dentistry of the UES, which, however, only began to be applied from of December 16, 1899 by order approved by President Tomás Regalado, at the request of the rector Ricardo Moreira; that classes began on January 2, 1900; that notwithstanding, the current Faculty of Dentistry functioned during its first years as a Dental Office that was attached to the Faculty of Medicine, at a time when the profession of dentistry was practiced by Salvadorans who had graduated abroad; that the Dental Office was transformed into the Faculty of Dentistry in 1920, with Dr. José Llerena being named its first dean and the title granted to graduates changed from dentist to dental surgeon; and that in 1958 the Faculty of Dentistry moved to Ciudad Universitaria.
By Executive Agreement of June 1, 1915, published in the Official Gazette No. 126, Volume No. 78, of June 1, 1915, the government of President Carlos Meléndez stated that it had acquired from Dr. Alberto Luna a considerable number of historical documents related to Central America, and considering that it was convenient for such important documents to be preserved as carefully as possible, he decided to establish a Historical Archive in the UES, which would be under the immediate dependence, surveillance and responsibility of the rector.
In 1918 the university newspaper "Opinión Estudiantil" was founded as a means of communication critical of the students of the UES towards the actions of the government. Among its first editors were Inocente Rivas Hidalgo, Rafael Angulo Alvarenga, Alfonso Rochac, Raúl Gamero, Maximiliano Patricio Brannon, Miguel Ángel Alcaine and Rafael Antonio Carballo.
In 1919, the medical students of the UES carried out several protest actions against the Tram Company in San Salvador and Santa Tecla for increasing the fare from one day to the next and for having been brutally rejected by the drivers. The retaliatory measures taken by the students ended with the burning of a tram and the destruction of others in various areas of the capital. In the end, the tram service improved and the employees treated users with more consideration and respect.
During the time of the Meléndez-Quiñones Dynasty, the UES was subject to the Executive Branch. However, at this time there was great academic and cultural activity at the UES. During these years, literary, scientific, historical and artistic contests were held. By executive decree of April 6, 1916, short courses were created with the purpose of making university teaching more intensive and extensive. Prizes for student competitions were also established at the UES. In addition to this, a music contest was opened; exhibitions of paintings were inaugurated; a campaign against illiteracy was carried out; historical studies were protected and encouraged; a book and newspaper exhibition was opened; the appointments of the first honorary academic titles were announced: Alberto Masferrer, in essays and journalism, and Roberto Archibald Lambert and Friedich Fulleborn, in Natural Sciences; The University Editorial Center was created by executive decree of March 15, 1923 with the mission of publishing scientific, literary and artistic works by national authors; and finally, cycles of conferences on the most varied topics were promoted at the UES.
With the arrival of the government of President Pío Romero Bosque, the Salvadoran parliament, at the initiative of the UES students, lifted the state of siege that had been maintained in the country for that time; while the new government decided grant university autonomy to the UES by means of the Executive Decree of May 23, 1927, published in the Official Gazette No. 115, Volume No. 102, of May 23, 1927. In this way, it was established that the UES was constituted by the different federated faculties, which would be governed by their respective deans, but having the rector, who would be appointed by the Executive Branch, as general head; while the deans would be chosen by the body of professors, but leaving the Executive Branch the right to dictate the last word. Despite this link of dependence on the government, President Pío Romero Bosque never intervened in the internal affairs of the UES.
In 1927, during the government of President Pío Romero Bosque, the General Association of Salvadoran University Students (AGEUS) was created. Among its founders were Alfonso Luna, Mario Zapata and Agustín Farabundo Martí, who were shot by the government of President Maximiliano Hernández Martínez on February 1, 1932, considering that they were the leaders of the peasant uprising that had occurred in the middle of last month in the western part of the country. The AGEUS was finally dissolved in the year 2000. However, the authorities of the UES maintained the hope of the resurgence of the AGEUS, since in article 82-C of the General Regulation of the Organic Law of the UES of 2001, added to the original text of that normative body through an approved reform On June 6, 2003, it was stated that at the general level of the alma mater the existence of a single general association representative of the interests of UES students was recognized, which will be called the General Association of Students of the University of El Salvador, which will be abbreviated "AGEUS", and which will be constituted as a federation by the general associations of each of its twelve faculties. And for its part, article 8 of the Academic-Administrative Management Regulations of the University of El Salvador, approved in 2013, provides that the University Admission Committee will be made up of the Academic Vice Chancellor, who will coordinate it; the Vice Deans, the Secretary of Academic Affairs and two student representatives designated by the General Association of Students of the University of El Salvador; and that while the latter is not legally constituted and registered, the student representation will be assumed by two designated student representatives, one by the Superior University Council and the other by the University General Assembly and their respective substitutes.
The UES during the military dictatorship of Maximiliano Hernández Martínez
The government of President Maximiliano Hernández Martínez, after brutally suppressing the peasant uprising of 1932, decided to suppress the university autonomy that the UES had enjoyed since May 23, 1927, arguing that it had become a focus for communists. This measure was taken by Executive Decree of February 2, 1932, published in the Official Gazette No. 27, Volume No. 112, of February 2, 1932. The UES remained in the hands of the Executive Branch until May 1, 1933, when he agreed to restore university autonomy, which would not go beyond being purely theoretical, by means of the Executive Decree of May 2, 1933, published in the Official Gazette No. 100, Volume No. 114, of May 6, 1933.. The government of President Maximiliano Hernández Martínez granted a budget increase to the alma mater, and at the same time, through the expulsion from the UES, took repressive measures against students who wanted to exercise the right of representation and union organization within it. The General Association of Salvadoran University Students (AGEUS), meanwhile, was controlled and spied on. At that time, the students began a movement aimed at obtaining representation in the government of the UES, and in the end, they obtained the right to witness the sessions of the university authorities from a distance, but without voice or vote. But another source, in a dissenting way, states that on July 15, 1936, an executive decree of reforms to the statutes of the university was approved. UES, at that time in force, where the right of student representation in the governing bodies of the alma mater was recognized, with voice and vote. The budget increase granted for the UES between 1931 and 1935 has been interpreted as an effect of a clientelist network organized by this president in order to stay in power, and with this measure he sought to have a harmonious relationship with the UES so that it would be a base of support for his military regime. However, from 1935 the budget allocation for the UES is drastically reduced, because the network of clienteles had expanded and the UES itself ceased to be important to legitimize this government.
In April 1936, the government of President Maximiliano Hernández Martínez ordered the search for and purchase of land to build a University City. On October 12, 1937, it was decided to acquire the hacienda or "Finca San Carlos", but since it did not have good access, Escobar Park was opened, where the Maternity Hospital would later be located, and the 25 Avenida Norte with the name of Avenida Universitaria, although later it would bear the name of Dr. José Gustavo Guerrero. On December 4, 1937, the legal representatives of the UES signed the contract for the sale of twenty blocks of Finca San Carlos to build on that land the future University City. A little later, in July 1949, the UES bought another part of Finca San Carlos from the Urban Housing Institute; and in 1966 he made a new acquisition of land.
In article 54 of the Constitution of January 20, 1939, which had been issued mainly to allow the presidential re-election of Maximiliano Hernández Martínez, it was provided that educational establishments paid for or subsidized with public funds would be directly organized and controlled by the Executive Organ, with which the university autonomy of the UES was annulled again; although the same sources referring to the history of the alma mater erroneously quote article 155 of that Fundamental Law, which really dealt with the administration of public funds. Subsequently, the same Constituent Assembly that approved that Supreme Law, In accordance with said constitutional provision, it established that the Executive Branch would assume the organization and control of the University of El Salvador, through Legislative Decree No. 16, of January 25, 1939, published in the Official Gazette No. 21, Volume No. 126, of January 27, 1939. But curiously, at the end of the publication of said legal body, the mention of one of the government ministers of that time was omitted, and to amend such an error, that same legislative decree was published again in the Official Gazette No. 39, Volume No. 126, of February 18, 1939. As a sign of disagreement, the rector Sarbelio Navarrete criticized that constitutional provision and resigned from his public position in the UES as a sign of protest for the loss of university autonomy.
By Legislative Decree No. 2, of February 15, 1941, published in the Official Gazette No. 38, Volume No. 130, of February 15, 1941, the Salvadoran Congress declared a national holiday on the 16th, February 17 and 18, 1941, on the occasion of the first centenary of the founding of the University of El Salvador, although the celebrations lasted two more days, and on February 19, 1941, Avenida Universitaria was inaugurated.
In April 1944, UES students organized the "Brazos Caídos Strike" that forced President Maximiliano Hernández Martínez to resign from power in May of that same year.
The UES towards the constitutionalization of its university autonomy
During the management of rector Carlos A. Llerena (1944-1950) the foundation of the Faculty of Economic Sciences (February 7, 1946), of the Faculty of Humanities (October 13, 1948) was approved. and the Tropical Institute for Scientific Research (created in 1948 or 1950, according to various sources, and replaced in 1963 by another university unit), in the branches of Natural Sciences, Biology, Geology, Chemistry, Geophysics, Oceanography, Astronomy, Meteorology, Tropical Pathology and Pre-Columbian Archaeology.
The Faculty of Economic Sciences was founded on February 7, 1946. Its first 182 students were received on May 16, 1946. Its first acting dean was Dr. David Rosales. In the same year of its foundation, the classes of General Economic History, Elements of Sociology and Philosophy, General Notions of Law, and Preparatory Mathematics (Algebra) began to be taught. At the end of 1965, the construction of the building destined to house the Faculty of Economic Sciences in the University City was completed.
The Faculty of Humanities was created on October 13, 1948 and its first dean was Dr. Julio Enrique Ávila. Originally it was organized by the schools of Philosophy and Letters, Sciences of Education and that of Mathematics and Exact Sciences. But in 1955 it underwent its first restructuring. On March 1, 1969, it became the Faculty of Sciences and Humanities.
On the other hand, in 1949 construction work began on the University City on the old land of Finca San Carlos.
Thanks to the efforts of the rector of the UES, Carlos A. Llerena, and the secretary of public education, the provisional government of President Andrés Ignacio Menéndez issued Executive Decree No. 9, of July 27, 1944, published in the Official Gazette No. 170, Volume No. 137, of July 29, 1944, with which it granted university autonomy to the UES. However, this situation made the students and professors of the UES understand that university autonomy had to be incorporated into the constitutional text so that its existence did not depend on the will of the governments in power manifested through fragile and ephemeral executive decrees. For this reason, UES students fought for university autonomy to have constitutional recognition. And their efforts were crowned with success when article 205 of the Constitution of September 7, 1950 established the university autonomy for the UES in teaching, administrative and economic aspects. The students of the UES They requested the Constituent Assembly of 1950, firstly, to recognize the university autonomy of the alma mater in teaching, administrative and economic aspects, and on the other hand, to also grant two and a half percent of budget allocation for it, since they estimated that the one and a half percent that he received at that time was insufficient to cover his needs; but this last proposal was not included in the new constitutional text. However, this provision remained unchanged in article 204 of the Constitution of January 8, 1962. In 1951 the Organic Law and the Organic Statute were approved of the UES. With these new legal instruments, the students obtained a proportional representation with that of the authorities and teachers in the government of the UES.
The UES in the middle of the 20th century
The rector Carlos A. Llerena, who had been in charge of the leadership of the UES since 1944, was re-elected on July 19, 1950 for a new term of office, despite the opposition of the students to his new appointment. Some students took over the UES building in protest. The university authorities, for their part, requested the intervention of the security forces to recover the premises occupied by the students. Thus, on August 3, 1950, the police agents entered the university facilities through a "gap" opened in the national post office building and arrested the students who were inside. Faced with this fact, the UES students went on strike, and it was this last measure of pressure, added to the media impact that the student movement was beginning to have, which finally forced the rector Carlos A. Llerena to resign on September 13, 1950.
Since the 1950s, the University of El Salvador became the main referent of thought for the Salvadoran left and was one of the most important nuclei of opposition to the country's authoritarian and militaristic governments, and it was because of this attitude for which many of its students and professors were victims of military repression.
In the Ciudad Universitaria, at the beginning of 1955, the construction of the two buildings of the Tropical Institute for Scientific Research had already been completed; and in June of that same year, finally, the completely finished building of the Faculty of Jurisprudence and Social Sciences was also delivered.
The UES building, permanently ceded by the government of President Rafael Zaldívar on September 18, 1878, was consumed by a fire that broke out on the night of November 9, 1955. As a result of this incident, the UES installed in the old building of the Mothers of the Sacred Heart, which was a Catholic school. Shocked by this tragedy, the Salvadoran parliament declared a day of national mourning for the destruction of the old UES building, by Legislative Decree No. 1980, of November 10, 1955, published in the Official Gazette No. 208, Volume No. 169, of November 11, 1955.
In 1958, during the administration of Rector Romeo Fortín Magaña, the UES University Publishing House was created and Benjamín Cisneros was appointed as its first director, who sold the machinery, equipment, land and the building of what was called Editorial Universitaria, although it would be replaced that same year by the writer Ítalo López Vallecillos; but another source states that Editorial Universitaria was born in 1957 when Benjamín Cisneros sold his Cisneros Printing House to the UES, and that it functioned as its first director, although the following year he was replaced by Ítalo López Vallecillos.
The UES during the era of the first military interventions
On September 2, 1960, by order of President José María Lemus, security forces violently entered the UES, whose military intervention ended with the beating and capture of the rector, Dr. Napoleón Rodríguez Ruiz, as well as other people who were at the scene, also resulting in a dead university employee and several members of the university community injured as a result of these events.
The government of President Julio Adalberto Rivera was distinguished by substantial support and rapprochement to the UES, which has been attributed to the friendship of this Salvadoran president with the rector Fabio Castillo Figueroa, who was his schoolmate. It has also been explained that this harmonious relationship with the UES was maintained to prevent it from becoming a fertile field for revolutionary groups, for which his government tried to attract to his side critical students with public office or scholarships to study abroad., and at the same time he was concerned about granting a significant increase to the budgetary allocation destined for the UES. In any case, his government had a less conflictive relationship with the UES and there were fewer repressive actions.
During the administration of Chancellor Fabio Castillo Figueroa (1963-1967), a comprehensive university reform plan was carried out in academic, teaching, planning, university extension and student welfare aspects, and aid participation international and private This university reform was carried out with the objective of incorporating the UES into national development.
On August 21, 1964, the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences was founded. Among the resources that it makes available to its students is an experimental station of 143 manzanas in San Luis Talpa, La Paz, with facilities for agriculture, livestock and agro-industry.
But the rector Fabio Castillo Figueroa was always viewed with suspicion by the most conservative class in the country. His effort to establish cooperation programs with the socialist countries caused him many problems inside and outside the UES. His ideas generated a lot of opposition in the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture (FIA). And his initiative to segregate the FIA agricultural engineering career was rejected by its authorities. Thus, when the Superior University Council (CSU) approved the creation of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, the FIA Board of Directors made the decision to separate from the UES on November 19, 1964, thus establishing itself as an independent faculty of the Alma mater. The General University Assembly (AGU), in an extraordinary session held on December 3, 1964, dismissed the dean and the other members of the FIA Board of Directors. Subsequently, the Superior University Council (CSU) appointed an acting dean and replaced the directors of the FIA schools. In this institutional crisis, the students and professors in favor of the split of the FIA occupied the building of the academic administration of the latter, although it would later be taken over by the students and professors opposed to this schism, which would give way on January 3, 1965. to an intense shooting provoked by the dismissed dean of the FIA against these last occupants of the aforementioned building. To put an end to the problem of secession from the FIA, its acting dean and the university prosecutor, with the authorization of the rector Fabio Castillo Figueroa, requested the intervention of the National Guard, which quickly and effectively put an end to the separatist movement..
On July 16, 1965, the Western Regional Center was created. But it would only begin its activities the year after its foundation, with headquarters in the city of Santa Ana, under the official name of Western University Center. In April 1966 the administrative procedures began, in May 1966 it opened its doors to students in the auditorium of the Colegio Bautista, and on April 1, 1967 it began to operate in its own premises. On June 4, 1992, it became the Multidisciplinary Faculty of the West. And for its part, on June 17, 1966, the Centro Universitario de Oriente was created with headquarters in the city of San Miguel, which began its activities in different rented premises. On June 4, 1992, it was transformed into the Oriental Multidisciplinary Faculty.
The government of President Santiago González had founded the Western and Eastern Universities in 1874, with their respective headquarters in the cities of Santa Ana and San Miguel. But with the decision of the government of President Rafael Zaldívar to suppress these two public universities in 1885, the UES was again until 1965 the only institution of higher studies in the country and the one that concentrated most of the intellectual community of El Salvador. In that year, the creation of the first private university in the country was authorized: the José Simeón Cañas Central American University (UCA). Curiously, during the government of President José María Lemus, the General University Education Law was approved through Legislative Decree No. 3121, of August 29, 1960, published in the Official Gazette No. 158, Volume No. 188, of August 29. of 1960, with which it was allowed to establish other public universities in the country and even create private universities; but that regulation was repealed by the Governing Board by Decree Law No. 2, of October 26, 1960, published in the Official Gazette No. 198, Volume No. 189, of October 26, 1960. It is considered that the Private universities arose as a response from the conservative sectors of Salvadoran society, who were looking for an alternative more in line with their thinking, before the progressive line adopted by the University of El Salvador.
By the end of the 60s and the beginning of the 70s, the different offices of the UES were finished installing and began to function in the new Ciudad Universitaria, which took several years to be built.
In the 1970s, student groups arose within the UES close to the armed movements of the revolutionary left such as the ERP, FPL, PCS, PRTC, RN and FAL. The military government, for its part, began a campaign against the university community, accusing it of being a center of Marxist indoctrination.
In 1970, the "Common Areas Strike" broke out in the UES, which was actually a student revolt that caused the dismissal of a dean, the resignation of four other deans, that of the university prosecutor, the of the rector and that of a minister of the government of President Fidel Sánchez Hernández, and that in the long run would pave the way for the military intervention suffered by the UES on July 19, 1972.
By final judgment of July 18, 1972, pronounced in the unconstitutionality process with reference number 1-71, and published in the Official Gazette No. 133, Volume No. 236, of July 18, 1972, the Supreme Court of Justice declared unconstitutional the reforms of the Organic Statute of the UES of 1951, approved by the Superior University Council in the ordinary session No. 504, of September 29, 1970, and ratified in the extraordinary session No. 525, held by the same university body on February 10, 1971, considering that they were contrary to the Constitution of January 8, 1962, because they had not been sent to the Executive Branch for approval nor were they published in the Official Gazette. Following the initiative of the Executive Branch, the Salvadoran Congress repealed the Organic Law of the UES of 1951, alleging that the elections of university authorities carried out in 1971 in accordance with the statutory reforms declared unconstitutional were null, and the government of President Arturo Armando Molina, meanwhile, it carried out a military intervention against the facilities of the UES.
Through Legislative Decree No. 41, of July 19, 1972, published in the Official Gazette No. 134, Volume No. 236, of July 19, 1972, the Salvadoran Parliament authorized the Executive Branch to intervene militarily at the University of El Salvador through the use of agents of the Armed Forces, who used tanks and heavy artillery; they burned many libraries; they made arrests of hundreds of people that same day; In addition, they arrested another fifteen people along with the rector of the University of El Salvador, Rafael Menjívar, and the dean of the Faculty of Sciences and Humanities, Fabio Castillo Figueroa, who ended up suffering imprisonment and subsequent forced exile in Nicaragua.
The Salvadoran Congress, at the same time that it repealed the Organic Law of the UES of 1951, decided to create an ad hoc commission in charge of guarding and managing the university patrimony. Said commission ad hoc was made up of a president, a secretary, a treasurer and two advisors, in accordance with the provisions of Executive Decree No. 3, of July 20, 1972, published in the Official Gazette No. 135, Volume No. 236, of July 20, 1972.
The University of El Salvador remained closed for a year as the government of President Arturo Armando Molina tried to eliminate the intellectuals behind the opposition and the center of student unrest. Since this tragic event, the student movement has continued working underground and organizing the protest work that would come to light some time later. Subsequently, the Organic Law of the UES of 1972 and the Statutes of the UES of 1973 were approved. The UES was finally handed over to the new university authorities on July 5, 1973.
On November 18, 1976, the UES was closed by the university authorities themselves, after learning of the death of a custodian of the same by five bullet wounds and the detonation of explosive devices. At the request of a group of parents aimed at normalizing academic activities at the UES, the government of President Arturo Armando Molina decided to create the Provisional Administration Council of the University of El Salvador (CAPUES). In this way, the UES was reopened in 1977 after the CAPUES was established. This state body, whose functions were to end in 1978, was officially established by Legislative Decree No. 247, of March 31, 1977, published in the Official Gazette No. 65, Volume No. 255, of April 1, 1977, although its existence would be extended until 1982 by Legislative Decree No. 363, of September 22, 1977, published in the Official Gazette No. 186, Volume No. 257, of October 7, 1977. However, shortly after the CAPUES was replaced by a Provisional Board of Directors of the University of El Salvador as a public entity that the UES government would have during the transition period for the election and inauguration of the new university authorities in 1979, as provided by Legislative Decree No. 108, of December 19, 1978, published in the Official Gazette No. 236, Volume No. 261, of December 19, 1978. The CAPUES was made up of the rector, the president of the General Assembly University, the deans of the different faculties, the prosecutor and the general secretary of the UES. But it was really the pressure exerted by the university students that would get the government of President Carlos Humberto Romero to decide to dissolve the CAPUES on December 19, 1978.
On October 29, 1979, several UES students who were participating in a buffo parade died when they clashed with the security forces in the vicinity of the Central Market of the capital.
The student massacre of July 30, 1975
There is a date of great importance and significance that would historically mark the life of the university community: the student massacre that occurred on July 30, 1975.
On July 25, 1975 at the Centro Universitario de Occidente (current Multidisciplinary Faculty of the West), during the patron saint festivities, students prepared to mount a “bufo” parade; artistic act that consisted of disguising himself as any public official of the time and ridiculously parodying him. That day the military stormed the university facilities, applying repressive force and capturing many students, which caused discontent and protest in the student body and the university community at that time.
Consequently, the most important peaceful student social demonstration that condemned the military intervention in Santa Ana, took place on July 30, 1975, with a march that left around three in the afternoon, from the Faculty of Sciences and Humanities, organized by the General Association of Salvadoran University Students (AGEUS) at the headquarters, which had the objective of reaching the Plaza Libertad in the historic center of San Salvador. Along the way, they shouted slogans against the government of Arturo Armando Molina and carried out "bufo" activities.
When the march was at the two-level pass, located on 25 north avenue, in front of the General Hospital of the Salvadoran Social Security Institute, and two blocks from the Rosales Hospital, a military contingent of the National Guard, National Police and Treasury Police, under the orders of General Carlos Humberto Romero, attacked the peaceful march of university students and high school students, shooting at them with large-caliber weapons, and crushing them with armored vehicles. The march turned into a frantic retreat for their lives. Many students threw themselves from the bridge, sustaining serious fractures, while others, hit by bullets, fell under the tracks of the tanks, and some fled injured, while the other survivors retreated in a frenzy.
The exact number of deceased university students is not known to date, although some versions of survivors argue that the deaths amounted to more than a hundred. However, this warlike event did not stop the students from organizing and preparing their work demanding social justice in the country. The student massacre of July 30, 1975 has become one more genocide in the impunity of the times because the intellectual and material murderers were never prosecuted.
As a reminder of this historic event, in article 82-G of the General Regulation of the Organic Law of the UES of 2001, added to its original text by means of a reform approved on July 28, 2006, it is stated that the soul Mater recognizes July 30 of each year as "Student Day of the University of El Salvador"; and that it will also provide the economic resources to promote socio-cultural events in commemoration of that date.
The UES during the armed conflict of the 1980s and in the post-war era
On June 26, 1980, by order of the Revolutionary Government Junta, the University of El Salvador was once again occupied by the Armed Forces, beginning a period of four years of exile for the university community, which would become in the longest military intervention in the history of the UES. The UES commemorates every June 26 as the "Day of the University Worker" in memory of that historical event. On October 28, 1980, the rector Félix Ulloa was attacked with a firearm a few meters from the UES headquarters, dying the next day as a result of the seriousness of the injuries suffered. By Legislative Decree No. 183, of March 24, 1983, published in the Official Gazette No. 60, Volume No. 278, of March 25, 1983, the Constituent Assembly that would later approve the Constitution of the Republic of El Salvador in 1983, decided to create the Commission for the Delivery of the Facilities of the University of El Salvador, in order to establish and execute all those necessary mechanisms required to deliver the facilities, furniture, equipment and other belongings of the university heritage to the authorities thereof. And that was how, on May 22, 1984, the UES facilities were finally handed over by the military to the rector Miguel Ángel Parada. In the following years, hundreds of students, professors, and university authorities fell victim to repression. governmental.
In article 61 of the Constitution of December 15, 1983, which entered into force five days after its approval, the precepts of the previous constitutions related to the UES were maintained, adding only that its expenses are subject to the control of the corresponding state body, in accordance with what was stated in its Statement of Reasons. However, by the time of the civil war the budget allocation for the UES was significantly reduced, because the alma mater was considered by the governments on duty as a "guerrilla sanctuary" due to the existence of student groups favorable to the revolutionary movement.
Until the end of the civil war, the UES suffered a period of decline, added to the damage to the infrastructure of the University City produced by the earthquake of October 10, 1986. The central campus of the UES was destroyed almost entirely the Faculties of Economic Sciences, Dentistry and Chemistry and Pharmacy, while another five were seriously damaged, in addition to the Central Administration. The economic damages in the UES amounted to 89 million colones. President José Napoleón Duarte visited the UES facilities on November 10, 1986 to verify the damage suffered by the earthquake last month, but he had to leave the place before the hostile reception he received from university students.
On September 13, 1988, a demonstration by UES students demanding a higher budget allocation ended in a series of riots that resulted in one death and several arrests.
On April 27, 1989, at the request of a group of citizens, the Paracentral Regional University Center was founded with headquarters in the city of San Vicente, which would become the Paracentral Multidisciplinary Faculty on June 4, 1992.
On August 28, 1989, military troops shot fifteen university students, killing one of them and wounding six others. On the other hand, on December 16, 1989, a teacher who worked at the UES headquarters in Santa Ana was murdered.
On November 12, 1989, within the context of the insurgent offensive launched by the FMLN the previous day, President Alfredo Cristiani ordered the last military intervention that the UES would undergo and would keep it closed until the following year. UES was handed over in May 1990 to the university authorities.
In 1991, with the election of Rector Fabio Castillo Figueroa for a second term, a recovery period began for the University of El Salvador. One of his achievements in this new stage of work at the head of the UES was to make the dream of creating the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics come true on September 5, 1991, which would begin to function as such on January 4, 1992.. Also in this management period, a new building for the Central Library of the UES was built.
In 1992, the Institute for Pedagogical Training and Resources of the University of El Salvador was founded with the purpose of contributing to teacher training and educational research. On October 13, 1994, the University Institute of Education of the UES was established, with the purpose of contributing to the transformation and development of the national educational system. And for its part, on February 2, 1995, the Institute of Historical, Anthropological and Archaeological Studies of the UES was created, with the aim of clarifying and strengthening historical memory and raising awareness about the national reality.
By Legislative Decree No. 134, of October 30, 1997, published in the Official Gazette No. 227, Volume No. 337, of December 4, 1997, the Salvadoran Parliament declared the old building of the School a national monument of Medicine of the UES, known as La Rotonda, which is located in front of the Rosales Hospital.
Subsequently, the Organic Law of the UES of 1999 and the General Regulation of the Organic Law of the UES of 2001 were approved.
21st century
During the administration of Rector María Isabel Rodríguez (1999-2007) most of the social prejudices towards the UES were overcome, the internal struggles of the University of El Salvador were appeased, they fought for an adequate budget and greater development academic and scientific; In addition, cooperation agreements were signed with the government of President Francisco Flores and a $25,000,000 loan was obtained through CABEI for the reconstruction of the infrastructure of the alma mater, as a result of negotiations initiated by the UES with the government. of President Armando Calderón Sol during the administration of Rector José Benjamín López Guillén (1995-1999).
In November 2001, the Central Library of the UES published online the first version of the Virtual Library of the University of El Salvador, with the purpose of preserving in digital format those old materials or those damaged by time and by other causes that are of greatest interest to the university community.
Between 2001 and 2002, the Sports Complex of the University of El Salvador was built, one of the most modern and complex university venues in the country and Central America, where the XIX Central American and Caribbean Games were held. The UES became the the Central American Olympic Way, leaving as a legacy a modern infrastructure and a sports complex that no other Salvadoran university has.
On July 6, 2005, there was a student march against the government of President Elías Antonio Saca for the possibility of authorizing an increase in the price of collective transport tickets. The youth protest ended in a pitched battle between riot police and protesters in front of the main entrance of the UES that left several injured and material damage.
Almost exactly one year later, on July 5, 2006, a new student march was held against the government of President Elías Antonio Saca, but this time as a sign of disagreement upon learning of the approval of a rate increase the passage of the urban bus, which culminated on the outskirts of the central campus of the UES, where there was a shootout between some protesters and police officers. In the armed confrontation, two members of the National Civil Police (PNC) were killed and several more riot police officers were injured. In this case, the protesters José Mario Belloso Castillo and Luis Antonio Herrador Funes were prosecuted and sentenced, respectively, as the perpetrator and accomplice of the murder of the two police officers.
During these events, PNC snipers injured a university employee and shot at the UES buildings. As a consequence of these events, the UES was closed for the next six days while the PNC raided its facilities in search of evidence against those responsible for the death of the two riot police officers.
In view of the armed attack perpetrated against the police agents, the government of President Elías Antonio Saca directly blamed the FMLN for having planned these riots, because the author of the shots and his accomplice were affiliated with that political party. The FMLN, however, publicly rejected this accusation and distanced itself from the violent actions committed by its own militants involved in the murder of the two riot police officers. Later, President Elías Antonio Saca himself retracted having made that statement. signaling. And for its part, the UES disassociated itself from those events and considered that the actions of the PNC violated its university autonomy.
During the term of office of the rector María Isabel Rodríguez, in May 2006 the university community rejected an IDB loan for the alma mater, arguing that they wanted to privatize the UES.
During the administration of Rector Rufino Quezada (2007-2011) the magazine "La Universidad" reappears, whose publication had been suspended in 1996. #34;El Universitario", whose origin dates back to the 1950s, thus beginning the thirteenth period of its existence; although according to another source, the newspaper "El Universitario" was founded in the mid-1960s.
On February 9, 2010, the Valencia Regional Health Center was inaugurated in the UES, whose medical care is focused on the prevention and treatment of visual and hearing problems in children. Its creation was managed since 2004 by the UES and the University of Valencia in Spain, and had the support of the Generalitat of Valencia and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation.
On February 15, 2013, the project of "Construction and Equipment of the National Institute of Applied Science and Technology of the University of El Salvador and Regional Offices" (INCTAUES), with the inauguration at the headquarters in Nueva Concepción, Chalatenango.
In 2014, the University of El Salvador faced a critical situation due to a budget deficit of 6.5 million dollars to cover its expenses that year.
On October 29, 2015, the Higher University Council appointed José Luis Argueta Antillón as interim rector of the UES, after the General University Assembly (AGU) failed to elect a replacement for rector Mario Roberto Nieto Lovo, who He exercised his functions at the head of the UES in the period from 2011 to 2015. The candidate Ana María Glower de Alvarado won the majority of votes in the three sectors of the UES: student, teacher and non-teaching professional. The problem originated when the AGU accepted an appeal for annulment presented by the non-teaching professional sector for the election held at the Facultad Multidisciplinary de Occidente, due to alleged irregularities that occurred in the voting. Faced with this situation, the AGU ordered that the election be repeated at the headquarters of the UES in Santa Ana, despite the fact that the University Attorney General's Office ruled that the appeal for annulment of the vote at that regional headquarters should be dismissed for lack of pertinent evidence. In the new election, the candidate Roger Arias, contrary to what happened in the first ballot, obtained better results, achieving a technical tie with the candidate Ana María Glower de Alvarado, which would force the two contenders to go to new elections to to know if one or both candidates could be taken into account to be voted for by the AGU and finally reach the rectory of the UES. Subsequently, it was the candidate Ana María Glower de Alvarado who filed an appeal before the AGU for annulment of this new election held at the same regional headquarters, considering that there were anomalies in the voter registry; She, like her, also filed an amparo petition before the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice against the actions of the university authorities. The AGU, for its part, agreed to send the case to study before the University Attorney General's Office, but the election of the new rector of the UES was still trapped.
On January 19, 2016, the UES, in coordination with the Ministry of Education, inaugurated the project "Universidad en Línea", with the aim of extending access to higher education to a greater number of people. The first courses to be taught with this distance education program are a Bachelor's Degree in English Language Teaching, a Bachelor's Degree in Teaching Natural Sciences, a Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics Teaching and a Bachelor's Degree in Educational Informatics.
By Legislative Decree No. 277, of February 11, 2016, published in the Official Gazette No. 35, Volume No. 410, of February 19, 2016, the Salvadoran parliament granted him the honorary distinction of &# 34;Notable Institution of Higher Education" to the UES, on the occasion of the commemoration of the 175th anniversary of its foundation. The parchment containing this public recognition was delivered by the president of the Salvadoran congress, Lorena Peña, to the interim rector of the UES, José Luis Argueta Antillón, in a solemn plenary session that was held by the deputies on February 25, 2016 in the University City. However, the legislators were received with a protest by some groups of UES students who requested more financial support for the alma mater.
In order to get out of the impasse in which the election of the new rector of the UES had remained since October 29, 2015, the voting was carried out again in the non-teaching professional sector of the Paracentral Multidisciplinary Faculty on April 7, 2016 The result of the election left Roger Arias as candidate for that sector with 59 votes in favor, compared to Ana María Glower de Alvarado, who obtained 43 votes. two appeals for annulment filed against this vote, so that the result of the same was firm. The first of these resources was presented by two professionals, and the second, by the candidate Ana María Glower de Alvarado. On April 29, 2016, both candidates for rector presented to the AGU the work plans to be implemented in the event of being elected. by this university body. And that same day the AGU carried out three rounds of voting, but still failed to elect either of the two candidates as the new rector of the UES. Given this situation, some members of the alma mater assured that the election of the new rector of the UES was being manipulated by the FMLN political party in favor of the candidate Roger Arias. The president of the AGU, for his part, announced on May 11, 2016 that the notification of the Chamber had been received of the Constitutional Court of the Supreme Court of Justice in which it reports that it accepted the amparo petition filed by the candidate Ana María Glower de Alvarado at the end of last year, for which reason that university body decided to comply with the precautionary measure that suspended the process of election of the new rector of the UES until the highest court of justice pronounces its final sentence in this case.
On October 6, 2016, the UES announced that the Online University program will offer three new careers to be taught in this new educational modality: Computer Systems Engineering, Industrial Engineering and a Bachelor's Degree in International Marketing.
By a final sentence of December 23, 2016, pronounced in the amparo process with reference number 626-2015, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice dismissed the amparo claim filed by the candidate Ana María Glower de Alvarado when determining that the actions of the University General Assembly (AGU) did not incur illegality in the process of electing the new rector of the UES. This decision was announced by the Constitutional Chamber on January 10, 2017.
On January 18, 2017, the Salvadoran parliament approved a budget increase of 2.9 million dollars for the UES.
With the judicial resolution that dismissed the amparo claim filed by the candidate Ana María Glower de Alvarado, the General University Assembly (AGU) decided to restart the election process for rector of the alma mater on January 20, 2017, which, finally, appointed the candidate Roger Arias as the new rector of the UES on January 27, 2017 to conclude in 2019 the management period begun in 2015 on an interim basis by José Luis Argueta Antillón. Roger Arias was sworn in by the AGU as rector of the UES on February 17, 2017.
On August 24, 2017, the Higher University Council (CSU) of the UES decided to declare September 7 as “University Autonomy Day”, considering that it was a day like that, in 1950, that A Constituent Assembly approved a new Constitution of the Republic, in which the university autonomy of the UES was established for the first time, with constitutional rank.
By administrative resolution of September 5, 2017, the National Registry Center registered in the Intellectual Property Registry, in favor of the University of El Salvador, the name and logo with the image of Minerva of this educational institution.
In an extraordinary session held on October 20, 2017, the Higher University Council (CSU) of the UES agreed to designate its central campus with the name of its former rector, Dr. Fabio Castillo Figueroa, in recognition of his tireless work as a fighter and patriot.
On December 15, 2017, the Salvadoran congress approved a budget increase of a little more than 6 million dollars for the UES; of which, 2 million were allocated to exempt all UES students who come from national institutes from paying tuition and school fees in 2018.
On February 23, 2019, academic activities were inaugurated at the new Ahuachapán University Center, which was created at the initiative of the Multidisciplinary Faculty of the West of the UES.
On January 16, 2020, by court order, the exhumation process began for the bodies of two university students who were murdered by State agents in 1980, who ended up buried under the Plaza Salvador Allende, which is located in front of the Faculty of Medicine of the UES.
At the end of 2020, the UES obtained a budget boost that made it possible to implement free studies at the alma mater for 2021, since the Higher University Council (CSU) approved for that year the exemption from tuition and fees of schooling to all UES students, regardless of whether they come from national institutes or private schools.
On June 25, 2021, the authorities of the University of El Salvador unveiled a statue in honor of former rector Fabio Castillo Figueroa, near the main entrance of the UES central campus, which bears his name.
On October 27, 2021, the Higher University Council (CSU) of the UES decided to declare October 28 as "Rector Martyr Day", in consideration of the fact that October 28, 1980, the rector Félix Ulloa was attacked with bullets near the central campus of the UES, dying the following day as a consequence of the seriousness of the injuries received.
On November 17, 2021, the University General Assembly (AGU) approved the Code of Ethics of the UES, as it is «necessary to have an institutional Code of Ethics, which establishes standards of conduct for the people who work in the University of El Salvador."
On November 26, 2021, the authorities of the University of El Salvador unveiled a statue in honor of the former rector of the alma mater and former Minister of Health, María Isabel Rodríguez, near the main entrance of Plaza Minerva del UES central campus. And for their part, on June 24, 2022, they also unveiled a statue in honor of former rector Carlos A. Llerena, in the same area near Plaza Minerva in Ciudad Universitaria. Subsequently, the On July 19, 2022, taking advantage of the commemoration of the fifty years of the military intervention suffered by the UES on July 19, 1972, and which was ordered by then President Arturo Armando Molina, in the surroundings of Plaza Minerva it was also unveiled a statue in honor of former rector Rafael Menjívar, who as a result of that event was deposed at that time from his position as rector of the UES, in addition to ending up captured and exiled in Nicaragua.
On August 30, 2022, the UES awarded honorary titles to the relatives of two students from the alma mater who disappeared during the beginning of the armed conflict in the 1980s. The honorary titles were awarded at the UES headquarters and was organized by the Investigation Commission on Serious Human Rights Violations Committed against the University Community between 1975 and 1995.
On October 26, 2022, the authorities of the University of El Salvador unveiled a statue in honor of former rector Félix Ulloa Sr., near the main entrance of the University City of the UES, whose act was attended by the Vice President of the Republic, Félix Ulloa Jr., as special guest.
University autonomy
The autonomy of the University of El Salvador was recognized for the first time during the government of President Santiago González when a Legislative Decree of University Autonomy was issued on October 23, 1871, which was annulled by the government of President Rafael Zaldívar on January 30, 1885, although it would resurface on February 16, 1886, under the government of President Francisco Menéndez; but shortly after it was suppressed by this same president on December 26, 1887, resurfacing until May 23, 1927 by decision of President Pío Romero Bosque; only to be abolished again on February 2, 1932 by President Maximiliano Hernández Martínez after suppressing the peasant uprising that occurred in January of that same year, although it would be returned to him on May 2, 1933, and although this university autonomy did not it would go from being purely theoretical, it would return, however, to snatch it away once more on January 20, 1939; recovering it on July 27, 1944 by means of an executive decree approved during the provisional government of President Andrés Ignacio Menéndez; until the university autonomy was finally consolidated on September 7, 1950 when it was raised to the level of a constitutional norm with the approval of the Magna Carta of that same date.
University government
Article 61 of the 1983 Constitution of the Republic of El Salvador establishes that "The University of El Salvador and the rest of the State will enjoy autonomy in teaching, administrative and economic aspects" and that "the items destined to support the state universities and those necessary to ensure and increase their patrimony will be granted annually in the State Budget."
The operation of the governing bodies of the UES is provided for in the Organic Law of the University of El Salvador, approved by Legislative Decree No. 597, of April 29, 1999, published in the Official Gazette No. 96, Volume No. 343, of May 25, 1999. The Rector's Office is the highest executive authority of this public university and is in charge of executing and enforcing the resolutions of the University General Assembly and the Superior University Council.
Faculties
The University of El Salvador has nine faculties in Ciudad Universitaria and three more nationwide.
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- University City (centres in San Salvador)
- Faculty of Jurisprudence and Social Sciences
- Faculty of Sciences and Humanities
- Faculty of Economic Sciences
- Faculty of Natural and Mathematical Sciences
- Faculty of Engineering and Architecture
- Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy
- Faculty of Agricultural Sciences
- Faculty of Medicine
- Faculty of Dentistry
- Multidisciplinary Faculty of the West (Santa Ana)
- Eastern Multidisciplinary Faculty (San Miguel)
- Paracentral Multidisciplinary Faculty (San Vicente)
Academic offer
The University of El Salvador has a wide variety of careers distributed in its different locations throughout the national territory, in addition to other careers that are offered completely virtually at the University of El Salvador online. Only in Ciudad Universitaria is the largest number of undergraduate and postgraduate courses offered. The UES has by far the largest university offer in all of El Salvador. The careers are grouped by faculty as follows:
Undergraduate Majors
Faculty of Agricultural Sciences
- Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine and Zootecnia
- Agricultural Engineering
- Geological Engineering
- Agricultural Engineering
Faculty of Economic Sciences
- Bachelor of Economics
- Bachelor of Business Administration
- Bachelor of International Marketing
- Bachelor of Public Accounts
Faculty of Sciences and Humanities
- Bachelor of Sociocultural Anthropology
- Bachelor of History
- Bachelor of Social Work
- Bachelor of Journalism
- Bachelor of Philosophy
- Bachelor of Sociology
- Bachelor of Arts
- Bachelor's degree in English Language (Option of Teaching)
- Bachelor of English Teaching (Modality to Distance)
- Bachelor of Education Sciences
- Bachelor of Education Sciences (Speciality in Physical Education, Sports and Recreation)
- Bachelor of Arts (Option Graphic Design)
- Bachelor of Plastic Arts (Chemistry Option)
- Bachelor of Arts (Sculpture Option)
- Bachelor of Arts (Option Painting)
Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
- Lecturer in Biology for Third Cycle of Basic Education and Media Education
- Bachelor of Biology
- Bachelor of Marine Biology
- Teacher in Physics for Third Cycle of Basic Education and Media Education
- Bachelor of Physics
- Bachelor of Geophysics
- Professor in Chemistry for Third Cycle of Basic Education and Media Education
- Bachelor of Chemical Sciences
- Teacher in Mathematics for Third Cycle of Basic Education and Media Education
- Bachelor of Mathematics
- Bachelor of Statistics
- Bachelor of Natural Science Education
- Bachelor of Mathematics Education
- Bachelor of Educational Information
Faculty of Engineering and Architecture
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- Architecture
- Mechanical engineering
- Engineering in Computer Systems
- Electrical engineering
- Industrial Engineering
- Civil engineering
- Chemicals
- Food Engineering
Faculty of Jurisprudence and Social Sciences
- Bachelor of Legal Sciences
- Bachelor of International Relations
School of Medicine
- Doctorate in Medicine
- Bachelor of Health Education
- Degree in Nutrition
- Bachelor of Maternal and Child Health
- Bachelor of Environmental Health
- Bachelor of Nursing
- Bachelor of Clinical Laboratory
- Bachelor of Radiology
- Bachelor of Anesthesiology and Inhalotherapy
- Bachelor of Physiotherapy
- Bachelor of Optometry
Faculty of Dentistry
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- Doctorate in Dental Surgery
Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy
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- Bachelor of Chemistry and Pharmacy
Multidisciplinary Faculty of the West
- See the Multidisciplinary Faculty of the West
Oriental Multidisciplinary Faculty
- See the Eastern Multidisciplinary Faculty
Paracentral Multidisciplinary Faculty
- See the Paracentral Multidisciplinary Faculty
Graduate Careers
Faculty of Agricultural Sciences
- Master in Sciences in Sustainable Agriculture
- Master's Degree in Hydrographic Basin Management
- Master in Sciences in Integral Water Management
- Master's Degree in Geographic Information Systems
- Master in Natural Hazard Assessment
- Doctorate in Molecular Biology
Faculty of Economic Sciences
- Master in Business Consulting
- Master in Financial Administration
- Master in Economics for Development
- Master in Integrated Quality Management Systems
- Master in Public Policy
- Doctorate in Economics
Faculty of Sciences and Humanities
- Doctorate in Social Sciences
- Doctorate in Central American Culture (Literature Option)
- Doctorate in Education
- Master's Degree in Social Research Methods and Techniques
- Master's Degree in University Education
- Master in Translation (English/English-Spanish)
- Master in Human Rights and Education for Peace
- Master's Degree in Psychology with Forensic Legal Speciality
- Master's Degree in Clinical Community Psychology
Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
- Master in Environmental Management
- Master in Sustainable Management of Continental Natural Resources
- Master in Sustainable Management of Natural Resources Costero-Marinos
- Master in Physics
- Master's Degree in Chemistry
- Master's Degree in Mathematics Teaching
- Master in Statistics
- Master in Fundamental Mathematics
- Regional Doctorate in Physical Sciences
- Doctorate in Mathematics
Faculty of Engineering and Architecture
- Master's Degree in Engineering for Industry (Computer Science Specialization)
- Master in Engineering for Industry (Telecommunications Specialization)
- Master in Renewable Energy and Environment
- Master's Degree in Project Implementation Development, Evaluation and Management
- Master in Structural Engineering
- Master in Hydrogeological Resources Management
- Master's Degree in Road Engineering
- Master's Degree in Occupational Risk Prevention
- Doctorate in Seismic Engineering
Faculty of Jurisprudence and Social Sciences
- Master in Economic Criminal Law
- Master in Private Law
- Master in Administrative Law and Public Policies
- Master in Political Science and Public Management
- Master in Gender Studies
- Master in Project Management and Development Planning
School of Medicine
- Careers of medical specialties:
- General surgery
- Pediatric Medicine
- Legal Medicine
- Pediatric Surgery
- Orthopedics and Traumatology
- Gynecology and Obstetrics
- Psychiatry and Mental Health
- Anesthesiology
- Labor Medicine
- Cardiology
- Internal medicine
- Family Medicine
- Pneumology
- Radiology and Images
- Masters careers:
- Master's Degree in Epidemiology
- Master in Public Health
- Master in Hospital Management
- Master in Sexual and Reproductive Health
- Master's Degree in Community Clinical Psychology
- Master in Nursing with Speciality in Critical and Intensive Care
Faculty of Dentistry
- Master's degree in Odontopediatría
- Master in Endododoncia
- Specialization in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy
- Master in Microbiology and Food Inocuity.
Multidisciplinary Faculty of the West
- See the Multidisciplinary Faculty of the West
Oriental Multidisciplinary Faculty
- See the Eastern Multidisciplinary Faculty
Paracentral Multidisciplinary Faculty
- See the Paracentral Multidisciplinary Faculty
University of El Salvador online
The courses taught under this modality are the following:
- Bachelor of Natural Science Education
- Bachelor of Mathematics Education
- Bachelor of Educational Information
- Bachelor of English Teaching
- Bachelor of International Marketing
- Industrial Engineering
- Computer Systems Engineering
- Agricultural Engineering
Students and academics
At the University of El Salvador, well-known characters who have been part of the history of El Salvador have studied and taught, including presidents, lawyers, politicians, public officials, doctors, writers, artists, historians, archaeologists and doctors honoris causa.
Student Population
Every year, the UES publishes the national call for university admissions in the different media, which specifies the steps to follow, the venues, warnings and recommendations of the selection process. The applicants for new admission must submit to the general admission exam where the basic subjects taught in secondary education (Mathematics, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences and Language and Literature) are evaluated.
The selection process of the UES is criticized for the high level of bureaucracy in the reception of documents and selection criteria. In recent years, the number of places has oscillated between 10,000 and 11,000 students due to the lack of absorption capacity on the part of the house of higher studies.
In 2016, according to data based on the number of students enrolled, the alma mater had 53,902 active students. Decentralized powers appear in bold.
| Faculty | Students |
|---|---|
| Faculty of Economic Sciences | 8277 |
| Faculty of Sciences and Humanities | 7990 |
| Faculty of Engineering and Architecture | 5426 |
| Faculty of Medicine | 5269 |
| Faculty of Jurisprudence and Social Sciences | 4513 |
| Faculty of Natural and Mathematical Sciences | 1771 |
| Faculty of Agricultural Sciences | 1305 |
| Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy | 930 |
| Faculty of Dentistry | 661 |
| Multidisciplinary Faculty of the West | 8915 |
| Eastern Multidisciplinary Faculty | 6623 |
| Paracentral Multidisciplinary Faculty | 2222 |
| TOTAL | 53 902 |
World Ranking
There are several classification ranks of higher education institutions that confirm the University of El Salvador as the best Salvadoran university. To cite some of them are: the World Ranking of Universities on the Web, known as Webometrics, places the alma mater in position 4,244 internationally. This classification is carried out by the Cybermetrics Laboratory of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) of Spain. The first ten Salvadoran universities best evaluated by this count, which are headed by the UES as the best for 2017, are the following -note that between the UES and the second and third position there are 488 and 1,018 positions difference, respectively, world level-.
| University | Global position |
|---|---|
| Universidad de El Salvador | # 4,244 |
| Universidad Centroamericana José Simeón Cañas | # 4,732 |
| Francisco Gavidia University | # 5,262 |
| Universidad Tecnológica de El Salvador | # 7,223 |
| Don Bosco University | # 7,828 |
| Dr. University. José Matías Delgado | # 9,488 |
| Specialized Institute for Diplomatic Training | # 10,292 |
| Higher School of Economics and Business | # 11,549 |
| Universidad Luterana Salvadoreña | # 12,338 |
| Universidad Católica de El Salvador | # 12,940 |
On the other hand, the "Top Universities: Worldwide University rankings" Prepared annually by a British consulting firm, confirms the University of El Salvador as the best in El Salvador in 2016.
| University | Local position |
|---|---|
| Universidad de El Salvador | #1 |
| Universidad Centroamericana José Simeón Cañas | #2 |
| Universidad Católica de El Salvador | #3 |
| Universidad Evangélica de El Salvador | #4 |
| Francisco Gavidia University | #5 |
| Universidad Tecnológica de El Salvador | #6 |
In addition, the "International Colleges & Universities" It also reaffirms UES as the best evaluated university in the entire Salvadoran nation in 2017.
| University | Local position |
|---|---|
| Universidad de El Salvador | #1 |
| Universidad Centroamericana José Simeón Cañas | #2 |
| Francisco Gavidia University | #3 |
| Universidad Tecnológica de El Salvador | #4 |
| Don Bosco University | #5 |
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