The evaluation of the universities’ teaching staff, as a social practice, is related to several historical conditions, and its development can be better comprehended when analyzed in a political context and with the processes developed by the State to further its society in mind. The Colombian situation, characterized for a lack of communication between a “central history” and many “peripheral histories”, the evaluation of the teaching staff at universities tried to shed light to the many tension created in public universities by their efforts to respond to market and State demands; and in part, to achieve a level of legitimacy in its own society. In this article an introduction to the evaluation of Colombian public universities is made, taking the 1991 Constitution as a starting point, as we try to identify several aspects of the current situation.

Colombia, teaching staff performance evaluation, public universities.