History

In 1906, during a visit to the Institute by King Alfonso XIII, its director, Adolfo Cabrera Pinto, took the opportunity to ask the monarch to reestablish the University of San Fernando. The first results of this petition arrived in 1913, with a royal decree establishing university courses in La Laguna corresponding to the first year of the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters and preparatory to the Faculty of Law. These courses would be taught on the Institute's premises, with the director of the Center, Cabrera Pinto, in charge of their management.
This University Section was expanded in 1917 to include the preparatory course for admission to the Faculties of Medicine and Pharmacy. In 1921, the Law studies were completed, allowing La Laguna to once again be considered a university city. However, it was not until 1927, by Royal Decree of September 21, that the University of La Laguna was created, becoming the 12th Spanish university district. The rector was José Escobedo y González-Alberú, who had been the dean-in-chief of the University Section until then. This royal decree definitively created the Faculties of Law and Chemical Sciences, and the preparatory course for Philosophy and Letters, which was subsequently completed.
The gradual expansion of the faculties led to the undertaking of the task of promoting the construction of a new building to house the University. Thus, in 1929, a competition for preliminary designs was announced for the construction of the University building and a college, on a plot belonging to the La Laguna City Council in a place called "El Cercado del Marqués." Of the proposals submitted, that of architect Ceballos was chosen. In 1935, the works were awarded, but suffered serious delays due to, among other causes, the Civil War and the new political regime that had been established.
In 1942, Classical Languages studies were established, leading to the creation of the Faculty of Philosophy and Literature; five years later, these studies were replaced by the Romance Languages studies. Finally, in 1960, the new University building was fully inaugurated on the current Central Campus. At that time, it housed the Faculties of Law and Science, the General Library, the Rector's Office, and the secretariats.
With the new facilities, the University of La Laguna expanded. The English Philology (1963), Biology (1967), and Mathematics (1969) departments were established, at the same time as the creation of the Faculty of Medicine (1968). The subsequent growth of the institution was marked by the incorporation of new studies, the division of knowledge, and other diverse issues that led to the creation of new centers, to the point where it can now compete with the leading universities in Spain. In 1972, the University School of Business Studies and the Teacher Training School were established, and a year later, the School of Technical Architecture.
The Faculty of Pharmacy was established in 1974, and the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration in 1975. The University School of Nursing was established in 1977, one year before the division of the Faculty of Sciences and the creation of the Faculties of Biology and Mathematics. In the same year, 1978, the University School of Social Work was incorporated, and in 1979, the Faculty of Fine Arts. In 1982, the former Faculty of Philosophy and Letters was separated into the Faculties of Philology, Philosophy, Psychology and Educational Sciences, and Geography and History.
In 1987, the former University School of Nursing was renamed the School of Nursing and Physiotherapy. In 1988, the Faculty of Information Sciences was created, and in 1989, the Faculty of Psychology and Physics. The 1990s were characterized by the emergence of a new type of center, more in line with the reality imposed by the new Spanish university system. Thus, the Higher Centers of Nautical and Marine Studies and of Computer Science (1990), the Center for Agricultural Sciences (1991), and, in 1995, the Center for Education were established. Finally, in 1999, the Higher Center for Political and Social Sciences was established.
On the other hand, it should be noted that the increasing demand for higher education by Canarian society led the University of La Laguna to create the Las Palmas University College, with studies in Medicine (1973) and the first cycles of Law, Philology, Geography and History (1982), which were under the academic tutelage of the Tenerife higher education center until the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria was created in 1989.
Bibliography: NÚÑEZ MUÑOZ, María F. (editors): History of the University of La Laguna, SPULL (Institutional Publications), volumes I and II. Tenerife, 1998.