Escuela Superior Latinoamericana de Informática

The Escuela Superior Latinoamericana de Informática (Latin American School of Informatics, ESLAI) (1986-1990) was an undergraduate school of computer science in Argentina, located at approximately 40 km. from Buenos Aires. Classes were held in a former countryhouse at the Parque Pereira Iraola.

The School had Manuel Sadosky among its main founders. In spite of its short life, it had a considerable impact on informatics teaching and research in Argentina and South America. ESLAI courses were attended by students from several Spanish speaking countries in South America (Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela). All students had a full scholarship and the admission process was passed by about 15% of applicants.

The School established cooperation programs with a number of foreign universities in the Americas as well as in Europe. Those cooperations sponsored important visitors to the School, such as Alberto Oscar Mendelzon, Jean-Raymond Abrial, Ugo Montanari, Carlo Ghezzi and Giorgio Ausiello, and enabled its students to attend graduate school at foreign universities.

The School had a clearly orientation towards theoretical aspects of computer science, with a remarkable European influence. Typed lambda calculus, program verification, Martin-Löf's type theory, etc

Unfortunately, the school was never able to develop a relationships network with local companies, which in a third world country like Argentina involved more practical problems. Without financial support, the ESLAI had to be closed down during the Carlos Menem presidency (September 1990).