The story
Founded by Enrique Molina Garmendia in 1919.1
Background
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many scholars from Concepción started to plead for the construction of a university for the south of Chile where it would be possible to study professional degrees outside the capital, Santiago. However, a project of this magnitude required a high level of organization, which as yet did not exist. In February 1917, the newspaper El Sur reported:
The idea of creating a university cannot yet be possible because of "the lack of organization of those who want to create it".
Committee Pro-University
On March 23, 1917, the first official meeting took place to realise two goals of the citizens of Concepción: a clinical hospital and a university.
After debate, a committee was named to take charge of the construction of these two projects. The projects were closely related because the hospital would become the base of the new university's medical school. Some notable members of the committee included Enrique Molina Garmendia, Pedro Nolasco, Edmundo Larenas and Virginio Gómez.
Foundation
The commission then presented the documentation to Congress that would officially create the university. These were sent and approved, and on May 14, 1919, Enrique Molina Garmendia founded the university and became its first rector.
Nowadays, the university is funded by various organisations belonging to the "University of Concepción Corporation". The Lottery is one of the main organisations. With this funding, the University of Concepción has become one of the most modern and important universities in Chile.
From Wikipedia’s article on University of Concepción, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3