Cayetano Heredia University - History

History

It was founded in 1961 by a group of professors and students from the school of medicine of the four-century-old National University of San Marcos also in Lima. This group of students and professors expressed their strong disagreement with legislation, inspired by the APRA, a political party interested in the absolute control of the University system in the country. The legislation advocated the "co-government" of all the state universities by the so-called "student one-third" which would clearly politicize the academic enterprise. The dissenting group was led by Drs.Honorio Delgado and Alberto Hurtado, Dean of the Medical School at San Marcos. As their campaign to preserve academics failed, the 400 plus faculty members had no other option but to resign "en masse", and found the new medical school as a private non-profit academic institution. This happened in 1961 and the first classes commenced in April 1962. Some "die hard" individuals have suggested that these events were the subject of "prior arrangements/agreements" which, in the political context of the time, would have been practically impossible. Forty-seven years later, Cayetano Heredia and San Marcos are the most prestigious medical schools in Peru. The frequent edition of this page evidences a friendly rivalry that persists between these two Universities concerning the interpretation of these events.

• Alberto Hurtado, MD