EAFIT: Present and Future
With the founding of Universidad EAFIT on May 4, 1960, the region’s prospects for academic training in the field of business management were forever altered. The emergence of a new institution of higher learning in the city responded to the demands of a rapidly changing world that was marked by political, economic and cultural tensions and which recognized the importance of ideas in resolving those problems.
It was in that context that 19 visionary men, supported by officials affiliated with the U.S. government’s Economic Cooperation program, signed the charter creating the Escuela de Administracion y Finanzas (School of Administration and Finance).
On August 17of that same year, Professor Bernard J. Hargadon taught the first accounting class to 59 undergraduate Business Administration students at a bank building in downtown Medellín that had been rented to the new institution.
With it, the dream of supplying the country with professionals trained in organizational management and contributing to the country’s industrial growth became a reality.
Months later, the institution moved to a bigger home in the city’s downtown and it was there that the Instituto Tecnológico (Institute of Technology) opened its doors in 1962, initially offering degree programs in textile, industrial and mechanical technologies as well as computer programming.
Finally, on August 14, 1963, the university moved to its current campus, located in the La Aguacatala neighborhood on the city’s south side.
But the quest for growth and improvement was not only seen in infrastructure. Over the years, the technological programs were canceled and the institution opened itself up to new fields of study. In 1971, it became recognized as a university and its four schools were launched in later years: Management and Engineering (both in 1979), Sciences and Humanities (1997) and Law (1999).
In addition, with the launch of the country’s first PhD program in Management, approved in 2004; and the PhD program in Engineering three years later, EAFIT incorporated high-level graduate programs into its academic offering.
EAFIT currently offers 19 undergraduate degree programs, around 49 graduate certificate programs in Medellín and other cities, 16 Master’s degree programs and 2 PhD programs.