The National Ministry of Education approved six academic programs for the new Escuela Universitaria del Café in Huila, affiliated with Universidad Surcolombiana.
The creation of the Escuela Universitaria del Café is now official after the Ministry of Education approved qualified records on April 30, 2026. The programs include Coffee Engineering, which is unique in the country, along with technical and technological cycles in sustainable management, product innovation, coffee production and administrative processes.
The school, linked to the Faculty of Engineering at Universidad Surcolombiana, will begin activities next semester with 120 in-person spots distributed between Pitalito and Gigante. The initiative originated from a campaign promise by Governor Rodrigo Villalba Mosquera and had support from the Huila Governor's Office, the National Federation of Coffee Growers and the Departmental Coffee Committee.
Governor Villalba Mosquera noted that approval was achieved in record time thanks to joint work among guilds, academia and government. Rector Rubén Darío Valbuena highlighted that the propaedeutic cycles will allow students to join the productive sector early. Huila, which has been Colombia's top coffee producer for 15 years, seeks with this project to address generational renewal in the sector.
