Colegio Nacional de Monserrat is a public

college preparatory A college-preparatory school (usually shortened to preparatory school or prep school) is a type of secondary school. The term refers to public, private independent or parochial schools primarily designed to prepare students for higher education ...

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

Córdoba, Argentina Córdoba () is a city in central Argentina, in the foothills of the Punilla Valley, Sierras Chicas on the Primero River, Suquía River, about northwest of Buenos Aires. It is the capital of Córdoba Province, Argentina, Córdoba Province a ...

. Patterned after the European gymnasium, the school is the second oldest of its type and one of the most prestigious in Argentina.

Overview

The College of Monserrat includes both a

. The former is organized in nine departments:

Philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

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Geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...

Letters Letter, letters, or literature may refer to: Characters typeface * Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet. * Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...

Exact Science The exact sciences, sometimes called the exact mathematical sciences, are those sciences "which admit of absolute precision in their results"; especially the mathematical sciences. Examples of the exact sciences are mathematics, optics, astron ...

Natural Science Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

Arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both hi ...

Physical Education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorati ...

, and

Humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...

. The school maintains the Professor Alfredo Ruibal Library, with almost 20,000 volumes, and the Historical Museum. The school is administered by a Secondary Educational Level Advisory Board composed of the Director of the college (who presides), the Academic Deputy, a Regent, the teaching faculty (represented by nine members, six professors, two tutors, and a professor or teacher as faculty representative), two student representatives, a non-faculty staffer, and a parent. The Middle School Level is governed by the Director, a Deputy, and a Regent, as well as a delegation of three teachers, an assistant teacher, and a student representative.

Admissions

Applicants to enter the first year of the school must take and pass an eliminatory exam, which includes a language test and a math test. Admission is by order of merit until completing 240 places. Every year since 2010, more than 1,100 students take the entrance exams. Constituting an acceptance rate below 22%.

History

Parochial era

The ''Real Colegio Convictorio de Nuestra Señora de Monserrat'' (Royal Boarding School of

Our Lady of Montserrat Our Lady of Montserrat or the Virgin of Montserrat ( ca, Mare de Déu de Montserrat) is a Marian title associated with a statue of the Madonna and Child venerated at the Santa Maria de Montserrat monastery on the Montserrat Mountain in Catalonia ...

) was founded in Córdoba on August 1, 1687, by the

Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

. Its founder and first director was Father Ignacio Duarte Quirós, a Córdoba priest who volunteered and donated all his property to that effect. King

Charles II of Spain Charles II of Spain (''Spanish: Carlos II,'' 6 November 1661 – 1 November 1700), known as the Bewitched (''Spanish: El Hechizado''), was the last Habsburg ruler of the Spanish Empire. Best remembered for his physical disabilities and the War o ...

signed the decree authorizing the establishment, whose implementation was entrusted to the Governor of Cordóba, Captain Tomás Félix de Argandoña. The college began operations as a

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

on April 10, 1695, and was ultimately awarded a permanent certification by King

Philip V Philip V may refer to: * Philip V of Macedon (221–179 BC) * Philip V of France (1293–1322) * Philip II of Spain, also Philip V, Duke of Burgundy (1526–1598) * Philip V of Spain Philip V ( es, Felipe; 19 December 1683 – 9 July 1746) was ...

, on December 2, 1716. The college was transferred to the

Franciscan Order , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

upon the 1767 Papal

suppression of the Society of Jesus The suppression of the Jesuits was the removal of all members of the Society of Jesus from most of the countries of Western Europe and their colonies beginning in 1759, and the abolishment of the order by the Holy See in 1773. The Jesuits were ...

. The college was moved from the Duarte House to the current location, and its relocation was completed on February 9, 1782. The institution was transferred in 1807 to Secular Clergy, pursuant to a Royal Decree of 1800 signed by King

Charles IV of Spain , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Charles III of Spain , mother =Maria Amalia of Saxony , birth_date =11 November 1748 , birth_place =Palace of Portici, Portici, Naples , death_date = , death_place = ...

by which he created the "Royal University of San Carlos and Our Lady of Montserrat." This new charter, which included what later became the

National University of Córdoba The National University of Córdoba ( es, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba,) is an institution of higher education in the city of Córdoba, Argentina. Founded in 1613, the university is the oldest in Argentina, the third oldest university of t ...

, was accompanied by major curricular reforms enacted by the

Rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of the University and College, Dean

Gregorio Funes Gregorio Funes (May 25, 1749 – January 10, 1829), also known as ''Deán Funes'', was an Argentine clergyman, educator, historian, journalist and lawmaker who played a significant role in his nation's early, post-independence history. Biography ...

Public era

The College and the University were nationalized in 1854. The former was converted from a boarding school into a

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

in 1858, and under the aegis of the "National School" system administered by the National Institute of Public Instruction (later the Ministry of Education) from 1881 onward. A new building was commissioned by Dr. Eusebio de Bedoya, and completed in 1864. The school was made an affiliate of the University in 1907. The building was adorned in 1927 with

Spanish Colonial Revival The Spanish Colonial Revival Style ( es, Arquitectura neocolonial española) is an architectural stylistic movement arising in the early 20th century based on the Spanish Colonial architecture of the Spanish colonization of the Americas. In the ...

doorways, windows, and fixtures during a renovation commissioned by Rector Rafael Bonet, and designed by Jaime Roca. monument to its founder, Father Ignacio Duarte Quirós, was unveiled in the central courtyard in 1937 (the 250th anniversary of the school's founding). The College of Monserrat was declared a National Historic Monument on July 14, 1938. The Monserrat College became a center of

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

and

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

agitation in subsequent decades. The

college newspaper A student publication is a media outlet such as a newspaper, magazine, television show, or radio station produced by students at an educational institution. These publications typically cover local and school-related news, but they may also repor ...

, ''El Pampero'' (later renamed ''Pampero Cordubensis'') was established by

fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

writer Enrique Osés, and became a leading nationalist publication prior to the 1943 coup d'état. The institution, an all-boys school throughout its history, was made

coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

by order of the University in 1997; the school's total enrollment in 2010 included, for the first time, more girls than boys. The Jesuit Block of Córdoba, which includes the campus, was declared a

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on November 28, 2000. In 2015, the gender distribution was 55% female students and 45% male students.

References