Colombia’s first secular university, the Externado University of Colombia was founded in 1886 by a group of progressive intellectuals grouped around the polymathic Nicolas Pinzon Warlosten. At the age of 27 he became the first rector but died in office nine years later.
It was formed in resistance to Colombia’s dictatorship of the time and the traditional boarding-school/catechistic model of education. It took its name from the progressive outside ideas, mostly from Europe, which it continues to espouse - “a pluralist philosophy open to all currents of thought, foreign to dogmatism and respectful of all religious creeds and political ideologies”.
Based in an 11-building campus on the edge of Bogota’s La Candelaria district, it currently has more than 12,000 students studying in faculties of tourism, education, social and human Science, communication and journalism, public accounting, law, economics, government and international relations, cultural heritage and finance.
A national survey in 2019 found that it was among the 100 most respected Colombian companies and institutions, scoring third among its universities.
It has particular strength in law, which accounts for close to one third of the holdings of its library. Its well regarded postgraduate law courses are offered in 11 Colombian cities and attract around 1,000 students each year. In 2017 Externado students won the International Criminal Court’s first Spanish-language mock trial competition.
Alumni include numerous notable lawyers although perhaps the most famous was two-time President of Colombia Alberto Lleras Camargo even though he did not complete his degree.
Around 60 scholarships are reserved each year for members of Colombia’s indigenous people.
The monthly poetry journal "Un libro por centavo"’ published its 150th edition in 2018.
