Los Colegios Mayores: el valor pedagógico de una institución centenaria

Every year, almost a third of Spanish uni- versity students move to another province to pursue higher education, and many housing op- tions are available to them (halls of residence, shared apartments, student residences, etc.). From a pedagogical standpoint, the question of the formative potential of each of these spaces arises. Since their birth more than six centuries ago, Colegios Mayores (a special model of Span- ish halls of residence) have contributed signif- icantly to the development of Spanish higher education and to promoting culture. However, there has been little research into these edu- cational institutions, meaning that their great cultural and pedagogical legacy is unknown. The aim of this study is to analyse the educa- tional value of the Colegios Mayores as forma- tive settings where the educational function of the university remains alive. With this purpose, from a hermeneutic-interpretative approach, these centres are analysed from the perspec- tive of both liberal and character education. This work concludes that Colegios Mayores are formative spaces at the forefront of education that offer their students a setting with a pro- found university experience, where the search for truth, the synthesis of knowledge, the en- counter with tradition, and the formation of critical thinking are combined with opportuni- ties for the cultivation of virtue, thus achieving an authentic comprehensive formation.