Under the presidency of Rafael Reyes, Colombia headed towards a process of urban and industrial modernization that included the educational reform of 1903-4. The reform sought to strengthen technical education through the creation of institutes devoted to industrial instruction. Andrés Santa María, then dean of the School of Fine Arts, was called upon to implement the proposal to promote studies in applied arts in that institution, but instead his response to that plan led to a split between artists and artisans and determined the course that artistic education would take after his departure in 1911.