Colegio Bernardo Valdivieso
| Colegio Bernardo Valdivieso | |
|---|---|
Unidad Educativa Bernardo Valdivieso | |
| Location | |
Loja , Loja Province Ecuador | |
| Coordinates | 4°00′38″S 79°11′56″W / 4.01056°S 79.19889°W |
| Information | |
| Type | Public secondary school |
| Established | 1727 [a] |
| Campus | Urban |
Colegio Bernardo Valdivieso is a historic public secondary school in Loja, Ecuador. Press and scholarly accounts trace its antecedents to a Jesuit school created in 1727, interrupted by the 1767 expulsion of the Society of Jesus, and reorganized during the nineteenth century; it is therefore regarded as one of the oldest secondary schools in Ecuador.[1][2][3][4]
History
Educational activity in Loja is documented for the early eighteenth century. In 1727 the Jesuits established the Colegio de Loja; the school operated for roughly four decades until the order’s expulsion in 1767, which led to closure of Jesuit institutions across the Spanish Empire.[1][5][6]
During the nineteenth century, local efforts to restore secondary education gained momentum. Lojano philanthropist Bernardo Valdivieso (1745–1805) earmarked assets to sustain schooling in the city; the present school later adopted his name in recognition of that bequest.[7] Accounts of Loja’s civic and cultural life note mid-century initiatives such as the Colegio La Unión (organized in 1857), which form part of the lineage leading to today’s institution.[3]
A local monograph compiles archival material on the school’s evolution and its links with the subsequent creation (1859) of the National University of Loja.[4][8]
Campus and status
The school occupies an urban site in central Loja and is recognized locally as an emblematic public institution; its facilities were renewed within Ecuador’s Unidades Educativas del Milenio program in the 2010s.[9][10]
Legacy
The school features prominently in Loja’s educational historiography for its long continuity and contribution to the city’s intellectual life since colonial times.[1][2][4]
Notes
- ^ Earliest antecedent was the Jesuit-run Colegio de Loja (1727); teaching ceased after the 1767 expulsion of the Jesuits, and nineteenth-century initiatives led to the later re-establishment that took the name Bernardo Valdivieso.
References
- ^ a b c "Colegio Bernardo Valdivieso: el antes y el después". La Hora (in Spanish). 18 November 2021. Retrieved 6 October 2025.
- ^ a b Borrero Espinosa, Efraín (1 October 2025). "El baúl de los recuerdos: Aniversario del Colegio Bernardo Valdivieso". Diario Crónica (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 October 2025.
- ^ a b González Portela, María Luján; Moreira Ortega, Rodica N.; Checa Godoy, Antonio (2013). "Fuentes y características del primer periodismo lojano (Ecuador): 1856–1895". Historia y Comunicación Social (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 October 2025.
- ^ a b c Jaramillo Andrade, Alfredo (1997). Reseña histórica del Colegio Bernardo Valdivieso y de la Universidad Nacional de Loja (in Spanish). Loja: Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana «Benjamín Carrión», Núcleo de Loja / Unidad Educativa «Bernardo Valdivieso». OCLC 39231574 – via WorldCat.
- ^ "El baúl de los recuerdos: Inicio del Colegio San Bernardo de Loja". Diario Crónica (in Spanish). 4 December 2024. Retrieved 6 October 2025.
- ^ "Aproximación a la fundación y expulsión de los jesuitas en el siglo XVIII". Cuadernos de Arte de la Universidad de Granada (in Spanish). 2022. Retrieved 6 October 2025.
- ^ "Bernardo Valdivieso (1745–1805)". Municipio de Loja (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 October 2025.
- ^ "Reseña histórica del Colegio Bernardo Valdivieso y de la Universidad Nacional de Loja". Stanford Libraries (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 October 2025.
- ^ "La Fundación de Loja se celebra con la inauguración de la Unidad Educativa del Milenio Bernardo Valdivieso". Ministerio de Educación del Ecuador (in Spanish). 8 December 2016. Retrieved 6 October 2025.
- ^ "Coordinación Zonal 7 – Distrito 11D01 Loja (reporte 2020)" (PDF). Ministerio de Educación del Ecuador (in Spanish). May 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2025.