The
Catholic University of Lima began activities in 1917 with two schools: Letters and Laws. The classes began in some free classrooms of the
La Recoleta school, near the
Plaza Francia. In 1918, it was renamed the Catholic University of Peru as its founders wanted. In 1932, the Higher Institute of Commercial Sciences, the Women's Institute of Higher Studies, and the Institute of Languages were created. In 1933, when the university had more than 500 students, the Schools of Engineering, and Political and Economical Sciences were established. In 1935, the School of Education was created. In 1936, the Escuela Normal Urbana was created. In 1939, the Academy of Catholic Art was founded, with
Adolf Winternitz as its director. The university is still one of only a small number to offer an arts major in Peru. On 30 September 1942, the
Holy See granted the university the title of "Pontifical" and it called itself the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. In 1944, the Peruvian thinker
José de la Riva-Agüero y Osma died, leaving his inheritance to the university, including the Riva-Agüero house, the
O'Higgins house and the Pando farm (
San Miguel), as well as rural lands in
Lima and
Pisco. It made him the university's principal benefactor. Initially, Riva-Agüero thought of leaving his fortune to his alma mater, the
Royal and Pontifical University of San Marcos in Lima, but decided to leave it to the Catholic University, because he considered San Marcos to be dominated by liberal ideas. In 1949, the university obtained its autonomy from the
National University of San Marcos, by which it had been governed, according to
Law 11003. In 1953, the
Riva-Agüero Institute was inaugurated, in honor of its benefactor. In 1959, the School of Religious Studies and the Faculty of Agronomy were created. Years later, the Faculty of Agronomy was deactivated and its students were transferred to the
National Agrarian University. Between 1953 and 1962, the Catholic University was associated with the main international organizations of universities, among which are the International Federation of Catholic Universities and the International Association of Universities. In the 1960s, the university moved from La Recoleta to new buildings at Fundo Pando in
San Miguel. It was granted the character of a national institution on 8 April 1960 with the enactment of Law 13417. In 1961, the Theater of the Catholic University of Lima was created, with
Ricardo Blume as director and unique professor. In 1986, four large packages containing thousands of papers related to
Martín Adán were delivered to the university. In 1992, the Center for Services and Technology Transfer (acronym: CTT-PUCP), currently INNOVAPUCP, was created, aimed at channeling the technological offer of the Catholic University in consultancies to public and private entities in the country. In 1994, the Cultural Center was inaugurated. In 1996, it joined with four of the most important
private universities in the country to create the Consortium of Universities (Consorcio), and years later, together with some regional public universities, the PUCP formed the Peruvian Network of Universities (RPU). In 1997, the first edition of
Elcine is celebrated, which ten years became the Festival of Lima. In 2000, the CENTRUM Business School was founded and in 2002, the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism. In 2005, the specialty of political science and government, and the faculty of management and senior management were created. In 2006, due to economic problems that prevented the correct conservation of the tapes, the Lima Film Archive was bought by the PUCP. And in 2006, the official delivery of the musical manuscripts of
Daniel Alomía Robles, donated to the Catholic University by his family, was made. Among them is his best-known composition:
El cóndor pasa . In 2008, the McGregor Building is built at its headquarters. In 2014, the Faculty of Performing Arts is created. In 2016, due to the new university licensing process by the National Superintendence of Higher University Education (
SUNEDU), after complying with the basic conditions of educational quality, the PUCP was licensed, being the second private university to do and the first university to be licensed for a period of 10 years (something that only some universities such as
Cayetano Heredia,
San Agustin,
Engineering and
San Marcos University achieved). As of December 2018 the rector and vicerectors faced charges due to mismanagement issues, and Rector Marcial Rubio had to resign after a scandal of fraud, usury, and keeping two sets of accounts. The subsequent administration initiated the return of overcharged fees, and introduced corresponding internal reforms. ==Naming controversy==