/WHO ARE WE?

History

2003

There was a need for a University Network that allowed higher education institutions to share information and special projects. This same year there were changes made to the ICFES, which became the responsibility of the Agenda de Conectividad. This Agenda proposed the UCAID - University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development project, which required the interested universities participate through regional organizations. In lieu of this situation, the need for a fast network in Bogotá became evident to physically connect them.

Based on the experience of REDIS (Red de decanos y directores de programas de ingeniería de sistemas - Deans and Program directors in software engineering network) decided to use the existing channels of communications in the Universities and launch the call.

On 2005 the Asociación Red Universitaria Metropolitana de Bogotá - RUMBO was formally constituted and its founding members were:

    • Escuela Colombiana de Ingeniería Julio Garavito
    • Escuela de Administración de Negocios EAN
    • Politécnico Grancolombiano
    • Pontificia Universidad Javeriana
    • Universidad Católica de Colombia
    • Universidad de la Sabana
    • Universidad de los Andes
    • Universidad del Rosario
    • Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano
    • Universidad Nacional de Colombia

The mission of Rumbo was to group the higher education institutions, the non-formal educational institutions and any other type of education or investigation institution in Bogotá and it’s surroundings. This connection through a high speed network would work to contribute to the construction and sharing of knowledge.

2005

2006 - 2014

Through various tenders, RUMBO grew thanks to special connectivity, different from commercially available internet that would allow the transmission and circulation of information through private channels. This allowed for the creation of an academic network that took advantage of this connection to develop conjoint investigations.

While this happened a cooperative system between the associated libraries was born. They shared experiences in software usage and the resources each university had. This launched the creation of the first meta search engine that integrated all the catalogues of RUMBO members, and was the first step towards an interlibrary loan system. softwares y se presentaban los recursos que tenía a disposición cada universidad. Fue así como empezó a gestarse el primer metabuscador, que integraba los catálogos de los miembros de RUMBO, y daba los primeros pasos hacia un préstamo interbibliotecario.

The network needed a self-sustaining model, so they decided to get an office and hire a team to make RUMBO work. At this point, formal positions were created: executive manager and the administrative, academic and technical coordinators.

In the library network, the interlibrary loan system is consolidated among many of the member institutions, which gives students, teachers and investigators easier access to bibliographic resources from other institutions.

Rumbo Smart Cities is born. A space for investigation made up of higher education institutions and strategic allies in the public and private sectors, becoming a go-to for consultation in strategic innovation and tendencies in smart city models.

2014 - 2019

2019 - 2020

Rumbo establishes a new strategic plan aimed towards becoming a leading academic network in the region, guided by these work axes: investigation, libraries, technologies and internationalization. It also recognizes the need to aid academia in responding to current societal needs through science and innovation.

Additionally, the network follows the 2030 Agenda to structure projects that support our associates and the country in reaching the Sustainable Development Goals. This will allow the strengthening of academic events and generate more international projection.

The library network created the “Megabuscador Rumbo” (Rumbo mega search engine), which allows the institutions to have a faster exploration of the catalogues of our associates. Additionally, biosafety and biosecurity guidelines were provided for handling Covid-19 in the libraries. With this, and more socialization among the members of the committee, the plan is to empower each university through the work.