The National University of La Plata is…
1897 CE
The National University of La Plata is established in 1897.
The federalization in 1880 of Argentina's national capital of Buenos Aires had forced the surrounding Province of Buenos Aires to cede the city, and as a result it was left without the greater part of its institutions.
The new provincial capital in La Plata was subsequently founded in 1882 but lacked a center of higher education and investigation.
With the purpose of rectifying this situation, the provincial senators Rafael Hernández, Emilio J. Carranza, Marcelino Aravena, and Valentín Fernández Blanco had presented a bill on June 12, 1889 to create a provincial university in La Plata.
The law was finally passed by the provincial Chamber of Deputies on December 27, 1889 and was enacted as Law Number 233 by Governor Máximo Paz on January 2, 1890.
The new law established the creation of a university of tertiary studies with four faculties: Law, Medicine, Chemistry and Pharmacy, and Mathematical and Physical Sciences.
The new university was expected to open that same year; however, the governor had not written the corresponding regulatory decree, nor had he even mentioned the issue in his final address to the legislature.
Due to this delay, a group of local citizens presented a request to the Ministry of Government on May 5, 1891, declaring their intentions that their children study law in La Plata.
However, the file on that request was closed in 1893.
On May 28, 1894, a similar request was presented to the new governor, Guillermo Udaondo, insisting on the full completion of Law 233
Despite a favorable report made by the Consultancy Office of the government on July 28 of that year, the Ministry of Economy and Government did not advance on the determination of expenses or assignation of resources and a new note was sent to the governor in December 1896.
Concurrently, Dr. Dardo Rocha, the founder of the city and first provincial governor, was developing the founding bylaws at the request of Governor Udaondo.
This was finally sanctioned on 8 February 1897—seven years after the passing of the law.
The first University Assembly comes together on February 14 and designates Dardo Rocha himself as the first rector of the university.
Studies begin on April 18 in the Banco Hipotecario building—the present-day site of the Rector's office—with a class on Law History given by Jacob Larrain.
Despite the objectives for which it may have been established, the first years of the university will be discouraging, as much for the dearth of students as for the low operating budget.
From 1897 to 1905, it will only succeed in enrolling 573 students, owing not only to the low population of La Plata in its founding era but also to the lack of national recognition for the degrees it grants, which heightens the attraction exerted by the University of Buenos Aires.