Socio-humanistic Component in Higher Education. The Case of La Gran Colombia University

Abstract

Higher education in Colombia, in theory, gives special relevance to socio-humanistic training, however, in practice, this type of training seems considerably irrelevant, especially with regard to the usefulness and professional applicability of this type of knowledge. The present research work aims to analyze the role and perception of the socio-humanistic training component in the Colombian university environment, in order to determine the relevance it could have as an integral part of the students' training process. The analysis will finally focus on the case of Universidad La Gran Colombia, an institution that has made the socio-humanistic training component its flagship. Using, as a methodological procedure, the bibliographic review, the main categories of analysis were determined: socio-humanistic formation, education, ethics, freedom and hope, from institutional documents, in the case of the Universidad La Gran Colombia, to more general documentation, in order to elaborate a national panorama. Finally, it is established that socio-humanistic formation in universities, if approached from the academic importance it deserves, is an essential and extremely significant component to undertake processes of reconstruction and restructuring, focused on social improvement and development.