Free University Day in Argentina

On November 22, 1949, through Decree 29337, President Juan Domingo Perón suspended the charging of university fees. This measure set a great precedent in terms of equality in Latin America, since it recognized the universal right to free higher education, allowing the popular masses, of low income and from working class families, to have access to higher education.

This policy, which broadened the social base of the student body, was clearly in line with the ideals of the First Five-Year Plan and with those of the National Constitution of 1949. This Constitution established, in its Article 37, that "the professional guidance of young people (...) is a social function that the State protects and promotes through institutions that guide young people towards the activities for which they have natural aptitudes and capacity, so that the appropriate professional choice will benefit them and society". In the same text, the State entrusted the Universities with "higher education, which prepares the youth for the cultivation of the sciences in the service of the spiritual goals and the nation's growth".