University Department Obrero Campesino (DUOC) was founded by the first lay president Fernando Castillo Velasco UC in order to give free education to students from lower social backgrounds (children of workers and peasants in particular). In imitation of what to the University of Chile, and especially the State Technical University engaged in full time university reform university classrooms opened to workers and low-income students who could study careers in universities despite its flaws economic. The DUOC grew rapidly and a year after its foundation already had a headquarters and with 475 students. The following year, the venues have tripled and the number of students grew to 3.033. In 1972, registered more than 30,000 students enrolled in its courses and programs.

The growth achieved during the early years prompted the Catholic University of Chile to provide legal and managerial autonomy, approving the creation of the Foundation Duoc on 7 September 1973. The rapid growth was the DUOC was stopped with the coup d’etat during which the University DUOC and were operated by the military government, many of its academics and students were persecuted and expelled. Other centers run by the Catholic University were closed as the Center for the Study of National Reality (Ceren), the Center for Agrarian Studies (CEA), as well as Curriculum and Vocational Training (Prescla) which offered education and training recuperative for workers, according to historian Richard Krebs this was because in these centers became political campaigning under the banner of Marxism-Leninism, as portrayed in the book History of the Catholic University. Soon decreased contributions that the university gave the DUOCand he saw the need to support themselves with steady increases in tariffs of its students and stopped talking the University Department Obrero Campesino, to avoid referring to the public and free to beginning the institution had henceforth to be known only by its acronym DUOC The privatization was completed in 1974 with the creation of the “Foundation Duoc. Under the umbrella of the foundation created the Instituto Profesional Duoc and Duoc Technical Training Center, based on the 1981 law that created these institutions in 1982 the Ministry of Education recognizes the professional institute and in 1983 the technical training center . In 1987 he created the adult education center that possesses the foundation. In 1990 the foundation created the Liceo Polit cnico Andes. Finally, 2005 was signed an agreement to continue their studies, with the aim of bringing both houses of study and contribute to a better educational level.