The University of Santiago, Chile (Usach) () is one of the oldest public universities in Chile. The institution was born as Escuela de Artes y Oficios (Spanish: School of Arts and Careers) in 1849 by Ignacy Domeyko, under the government of Manuel Bulnes. It became Universidad Técnica del Estado (Spanish: Technical University of the State) in 1947, with various campuses throughout the country. In 1981, as a consequence of a reform on higher education under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, it became what is now known as Universidad de Santiago de Chile, with all activities centered in a single 340,000 m2 campus in the capital Santiago.
History
The University of Santiago of Chile (USACH) started as the School of Arts and Crafts in 1849. It was born in the mid-20th century and it is the fifth oldest university in Chile.
Escuela de Artes y Oficios
The Escuela de Artes y Oficios (EAO)(Spanish School of Arts and Crafts) was founded on July 6, 1849 by Ignacy Domeyko, during the Manuel Bulnes Prieto rule, to improve scientific and technical development in the country. It started with four workshops: Mining, Mechanics, Casting and Carpentry. At the time, students ages ranged between 15 and 18 years old, thus making the EAO not a University, but a secondary education entity. Students were required to read and write and to know basic arithmetic operations. Besides being intensely trained in workshops, students studied algebra, descriptive geometry, trigonometry, technical drawing, industrial mechanics, physics and chemistry, besides Spanish, history and geography. This was a four-year education that later, in 1858, extended to five years. Graduates were called 'apprentices'.
In 1886 the EAO moved to a bigger building, located at Quinta Normal, where it would stay up until now. In 1912 it started to educate 'industrial sub-engineers', later known as 'technicians'. By the time, the EAO was able to grant two education level degrees: Arts and Crafts degrees (secondary education level) and Technician degrees (tertiary education level), and by 1936 it granted Industrial Engineering degrees too.
Universidad Técnica del Estado
Later during the presidency of Gabriel González Videla through the DFL Decree No. 1831 of April 9, 1947, the School of Arts and Crafts was joined with the School of Mining in Copiapó (1857), La Serena (1887) and Antofagasta (1918), with the Industrial Design Schools (1905) in Temuco (1916) and Valdivia (1934), with the Industrial Engineering Schools in Santiago (1940) and with the Technical Pedagogy Institute. Together these formed the Technical State University (Universidad Técnica del Estado, UTE), resulting in it becoming the best Chilean university in the area of applied engineering and industrial technician training. On February 8, 1952, the first statute that allowed the grouping to begin functioning as a university in legal, administrative and academic terms, was enacted. Its first president was Don Octavio Valenzuela Lazo (March 12, 1952 to March 12, 1953). In 1958, the Teknos, the university's troupe, was founded. Academic activity remained in the hands of the four Faculty Councils under the tuition of the University Council. During the 1960s, the DFL No. 2, 1971, allowed for the enacting of a second organizational statute, which allowed the University to be organized through offices, colleges, departments, and all academic structures that the board would deem appropriate.
In 1968 due to the University Reform of 1967–1973, Enrique Kirberg Baltiansky assumed the rectory, the only university rector fully elected by faculty and students.
In 1971, during the government of Salvador Allende, Revised Statutes of the Universidad Técnica del Estado were approved. During the 1973 coup, Kirberg was removed from his post and imprisoned by the military regime, the statute previously approved was declared void, and new guidelines were reformulated with appointments done entirely by the military regime.
The musician and poet Víctor Jara, who worked as a professor at the university, was arrested by Pinochet's forces, tortured and murdered days later.