Founded on November 16, 1948 by a group of young people led by Mario Laserna Pinzón, the University of the Andes is the first private institution of higher education in Colombia secular and independent of political parties, foreign to defend the interests of some social or economic group. Indeed, these characteristics made Los Andes edge educational project at a historic moment in the country in which private universities have in their classrooms the influence of partisan struggle. In this historical context, "the birth of the Andes not due only to the desire to give life to another college or educational interest exclusively, but to the intention of creating a new country. The purpose of training and educating new generations to build a new nation, "according Brigard Francisco Pizano, former rector of the University.