The university in Latin America has always been a dynamic and changing institution. One of the university's roles is to produce free and universal individuals, who are capable of thinking, deciding, and acting on their own, and are possessors of an inner freedom that liberates them of all types of prejudice. In its role as intellectual emancipator, the university strengthens its position as a space of liberty, pluralism, humanism and universalism, research, creation, and social communication of the elements of culture. As part of an educational system, the university must recognize the demands of the society and the State. The university is also a crucial cog in the wheel of economic growth and welfare, modernization, industrialization, technological and scientific achievement, and social development. It is also a principal generator of national intelligence about the country's natural resources and the possibilities and constraints for their use. The university is compelled to fulfill difficult political chores, and suffers the negative consequences of an exaggerated ideologization and politization of its problems. It must guarantee the positive aspects of a university for the elite within the framework of a university for the masses, and it combines the challenge of achieving the highest possible academic standards with diminishing budgets. (JDD)