The Universidad Nacional de Loja is a public institution of higher education located in the city of Loja in southern Ecuador. In 1859, the Federal Government of Loja, led by Don Manuel Carrión Pinzano, decreed that the Colegio San Bernardo would be assigned to teach Jurisprudence, Philosophy and Letters, Theology and Medicine, with only Jurisprudence becoming effective, establishing university studies in the city in that year.