A methodological framework is presented to approach organizational studies from a transdisciplinary sociohistorical perspective. This framework is used to account for the process of the establishment of the Dominican College-University in Chile during the colonial period. This analysis begins by exploring the social meaning of the university from the perspective of a systemic-interpretative approach. From the understanding of the university as an organization with a social meaning rooted in the Chilean colonial society, two possible meanings are deployed from the review of the historical process of credential evaluation and spatial location of the universities. The findings allow us to conclude on the role of the university as a mechanism of cultural reproduction of the metropolis and the instrumentalization of the territory and its inhabitants to consolidate the hegemonic dominion of the crown.