Principles and values

THE FOUNDERS’ STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES
 

• “Those who only do for others what the law obliges them to do are not fully fulfilling their duties. They are not good citizens, and they do not deserve respect from others”.
   
• “In order that the harmonious coexistence of man is true and sincere, the development of human intelligence is indispensable as is its uninhibited application to study and resolving the many problems of existence”.
   
• “It is every person’s duty to reconcile the interests that come between the individual and the community in accordance with the principles of moral truth and reason. People should dedicate themselves to truth and justice; these are the essential and eternal principles of life that has the innate capacity for the perfection that exists in every human being.”

Values

• “The Universidad de los Andes is an academic institution that is a public service and is dedicated to helping the general needs of the community. Its activity is centered on searching for and communicating knowledge within a framework of responsibility and freedom.
   
• The university shapes its academic programs in such a way that scientific, professional, and technical education are integrated with knowledge from the key elements of the great notions of ethics, aesthetics, logic, and religion that together make up humanity’s historical heritage.
   
• Its purpose is to promote within students the development of an awareness that is able to lead, within a moral, cultural, political, and social context, their participation in national issues, their professional activities, and their personal behavior.
   
• The university endeavors to make sure that the objective of communicating and seeking knowledge goes hand-in-hand with an educative process promoting intelligence and character, which strives to encourage critical thinking that is capable of analyzing, organizing, and researching and that is conscious of the ethical demands that are bestowed upon the dignity and credibility of an intellectual education. As such, it encourages research in diverse areas of knowledge as well as its application to the country’s problems and to Colombian society in those areas in which its contribution has the ability to be most significant.
   

Generating educational models that aid progress and stimulate the national education system through research, experimentation, and demonstration is a critical part of the university’s mission.

The Governing Board’s declaration, taken from their meeting held on March 29th 2000.