The Permanent Symposium on the University is born in the UDA

The University of Azuay held the first event within the framework of the Permanent Symposium on the University, which is today a meeting place to think of the University as a human institution, its meaning, its criticism and its prospective.

The act was inaugurated by the Rector of the UDA, Francisco Salgado, who recalled that the seed of the symposium was planted 20 years ago with the visit of the Jesuit priest and rector of the Javeriana University of Colombia Alfonso Borrero, who was the first to propose the name that the symposium is currently carrying.

"The essence of the symposium, as it was posed in Ancient Greece, is the meeting of peers, drinking together from the same cup; it is a duel of words between friends, friendship being - as defined by Plato - the fundamental form of every human community, "said the Rector.

Dr. Salgado advocated then because in this space you can share ideas from different opinions, oriented to ask what university we want.

Then the first speaker of this Permanent Symposium, Carlos Rojas, took the floor with his presentation "The University headquarters of reason. The thought of Doctor Hernán Malo. "

Rojas began by highlighting the difficulty we face when thinking about the University, due to the fact that we are completely immersed in it, adding that the first question is to determine how we talk about the University:

"When we talk about the University, we talk about reason and the truth. The University must have a sufficient reason, that is, a sustenance, a foundation, which in the case of the first university, that of Bologna, was the desire of a group of friends to learn, to know the truth; but also the University is the place where we argue: where we must give and demand reasons ".

With respect to the truth, Dr. Rojas indicated that the University of the past produced universal truths, then these disappeared but we continue tending toward these values ​​as Justice or Law.

"At present, even those values ​​no longer exist and we have run out of references, but as a University we should not renounce those values ​​because they are what ultimately constitute us," the speaker concluded.

Finally the event closed the Director of the Permanent Symposium on the University, Diego Jaramillo, who thanked the participation of teachers, administrators and students "in this unprecedented process of which we are parents, mothers and children."

Architect Jaramillo indicated that in the future it is intended to organize new conferences and seminars, participate in forums, make publications and launch a research program.