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Universidad Francisco Marroquín
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The University was founded in 1971 by a group of Guatemalan citizens who were troubled by the poverty and social and political instability that plagued their country. They believed the existing situation could be changed only by establishing a social and political system based on individual rights, representative government, respect for life and property, and a legal framework in which all citizens are judged equally. Fifteen years earlier they had founded a think tank devoted to studying and disseminating the principles of sound economics and good government.
By the mid-1960's, a climate of intolerance prevailed on Guatemala's campuses, where open debate of ideas often provoked violence. The group concluded that only through education at the highest level could factual analysis and reasoned discourse have a chance.
Their first thought was to persuade Guatemala's universities to offer courses exploring Western thought on social, political and economic questions. When that effort failed, they decided their only hope was to found a new university. University Francisco Marroquín opened its doors in January 1972 with 125 students.
Starting with only $40,000, the University's founders were looked upon as a handful of radicals teaching school in a rented house, with two ramshackle classrooms and a library of donated books stuffed into the old maid's quarters. However, as it gained a reputation for excellence, UFM quickly became a magnet for Guatemalan professionals, many of whom had been educated abroad, who were seeking a way of upgrading the quality of instruction for their own professions in Guatemala.
Some examples: School of Architecture founded in 1973 by an MIT graduate (he remained dean for ten years and later designed the new campus facilities); School of Medicine founded in 1978 by a Harvard Medical graduate; the M.B.A. program (1973) and the School of Computer Science (1978) founded by a University of Texas graduate in physics. (The last two remain deans today).
UFM has achieved international recognition, measured in part by the world class scholars and leaders in various fields who have accepted UFM honorary doctoral degrees. Among them are Nobel laureates in economics Milton Friedman and Friedrich von Hayek, noted heart surgeon Michael DeBakey, American author Michael Novak, Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa, French author Jean François Revel, former U.S. ambassadors Jeane Kirkpatrick and William Middendorf, II, Nicaraguan Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo, Prime Minister Vàclav Klaus of the Czech Republic, and U.S. publisher Malcolm S. Forbes, Jr.
From 1972 to 1987, the University operated in its cramped rented facilities on a half-acre plot on a noisy street in Guatemala City. In 1978 the trustees personally guaranteed a loan which enabled the University to buy a 40 acre tract of wooded land in the heart of the city. Starting in the mid-'80s , the University has since built a modern permanent campus facility, frequently characterized by visiting educators as one of the most beautiful in the Americas.
Today, UFM is financially solvent, it has a reputation for excellence, a solid corps of teachers, and over 5,000 students enrolled in its regular programs, and 7,000 in the distance education school. UFM's graduates --now almost 5,000 of them--typically receive higher entry salaries than do graduates of Guatemala's other universities. They are distinguishing themselves in all professions, including business, finance, politics, media, and computer related fields.