This article seeks to characterize the process of educational reform proposed for Colombia in the second half of the 20th century based on the guidelines presented by the Atcon Plan, through a contextual analysis, i.e., without losing sight of the economic, political, social and cultural matters that once framed, hindered and, in many cases, drove each stage of reform. The issue is crucial to understanding the importance of the reform of higher education and its consequences in the creation of a student movement strengthened by the confrontation of political and social interests. One of the conclusions reached with this analysis is that Colombia needed to incorporate a modernizing project of higher education and it took the US university model as its reference point, but the government failed to consider the social consequences that would manifest themselves through protests and marches for one single goal: university autonomy in the consolidation of a national educational project.