Mexico’s Growing Higher Education System

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Mexico’s Growing Higher Education System

Expanding Access to Education Across Mexico

Mexico’s college-aged population has grown dramatically, with attendees more than doubled from 1.9 million in 2000 to approximately 4 million today. Mexico’s percentage of students enrolled in higher education (38%), however, still lags behind other Latin nations, including Brazil (50%) and Argentina (89%). As a nation of 120 million inhabitants, Mexico operates over 231,000 schools that serve over 21 million students in basic education spread out over 32 states to serve a population that speaks more than 60 languages. Serious gaps in access to education, especially in the southern part of the country, like Chiapas and Oaxaca—where literacy rates have dropped tenfold—make the challenges even more daunting.

When President López Obrador (AMLO) took office in 2018, he planned to address this situation with significant changes in educational policies, including the reversal of many reforms initiated by the previous administration. AMLO pledged to build 100 new public universities to admit students without entrance exams to expand access to higher education. Under his administration the National Council for Humanities, Science, and Technology (Conahcyt) was restructured to work closely with the Ministry of Public Education (SEP) to enhance collaboration across all education levels. The restructured body, the Secretariat of Science, Humanities, Technology, and Innovation (Secihti), aimed to create 300,000 new places in higher education and foster an integrated approach to science, technology, and humanities in Mexico.

The AMLO government also made some impressive strides in expanding digital education, beginning with the COVID-19 pandemic. A digital initiative known as Aprende en Casa has provided broad access to online courses, materials and others resources. This program is supplemented by a dedicated platform known as Jovenes en Casa that encourages leisure reading, learning about Mexico’s culture, and developing interpersonal skills. A commission for free textbooks also offers digitized books for students up to 9th grade, including materials in several indigenous languages. In addition, the platform MexicoX provides a wide range of MOOCs for all grade levels, including university level. A large public distance university known as the Universidad Abierta y a Distancia a Mexico has served over 110,000 students since its formation in 2012.

Leading Universities and Their Innovations

For the government policies to succeed, however, additional innovation and growth is needed. Mexican universities are growing fast, across a diverse array of public universities and a burgeoning sector of private universities. The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), founded in 1551 and granted autonomy in 1910, is the largest and most prestigious of the 30 autonomous universities in Mexico. UNAM enrolls over 370,000 students, making it the largest university in Latin America. Its 34 research institutes are home to top scientists and scholars in all subjects, and all 3 of Mexico’s Nobel laureates are either alumni or faculty of UNAM. Autonomous institutions in Mexico enroll 36 percent of country’s higher education students, and the government has authorized additional autonomous institutions to keep expanding the system of these prestigious public universities.

In 2024, according to Times Higher Education, the top four universities in Mexico are the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), UNAM, the Autonomous University of Sinaloa, and the Metropolitan Autonomous University. Of these, only ITESM is in the top 800 of world universities, and is currently ranked #185 in the QS World University Rankings.

Tec de Monterrey and the Tec21 Model

ITESM, commonly called Tec de Monterrey, was first established in 1943 and has grown to enroll nearly 90,000 students within its network of 24 campuses that includes 54,000 at the undergraduate level, 7,000 in graduate programs and 27,000 enrollments in its network of high schools. As the most prestigious of Mexico’s private universities, Tec de Monterrey is regarded as the “MIT of Mexico” and is also “a little bit more like the UC (University of California) System in terms of our coverage” according to Michael Fung, Executive Director of Tec de Monterrey’s Institute for the Future of Education. The different campuses can “meet the local context and needs” and include campuses in the northern states of Coahuila and Chihuahua, central states of Queretaro and Puebla, and southern states of Michoacan and Veracruz, “working with the local communities to address particular societal problems,” according to Fung. Within the ITESM system is a “Lideres del Mañana” (“Leaders of Tomorrow”) scholarship program, which provides full financial support for students from underprivileged communities.

Tec de Monterrey recently shifted all of its instruction into an innovative Tec21 Educational model, which is centered on competency-based and challenge-based learning. This model integrates real-world problems from some 2,400 partner organizations into the curriculum, offering greater flexibility for students to choose their pathways, and a modular calendar that splits learning into blocks of 5, 10 or 15 weeks. Tec de Monterrey has also created a new Living Lab —a laboratory for experimenting with educational technologies such as interactive digital platforms and remote teaching through “holographic professors.” ITESM also offers alternative courses including bootcamps and micro-credentials to older and underserved communities of students. Tec de Monterrey developed its own Alternative Credentials system, to classify such micro-credentials by duration, competencies, and mastery level to enable students to “stack” both macro-credentials and micro-credentials based on the hours of study. In addition, through its distance learning subsidiary TecMilenio, additional learners within Mexico and across Latin America are able to pursue university-level studies. Tec de Monterrey has also taken on leading roles to promote lifelong learning through RECLA, a continuing education network that links universities in 21 countries within Latin America and Europe.

Mexico’s Universities in a Global Context

The Mexican government and its top universities have focused heavily on STEM fields for specialized job opportunities in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence. However, limited employment opportunities within the country have caused a “brain drain,” resulting in over 1.4 million Mexicans with postgraduate degrees leaving the country between 1990 and 2015 in search of better opportunities. Mexico has managed to offset this somewhat by attracting expatriate professionals and foreign students. Large public universities like UNAM provide extremely affordable higher education with annual tuition fees as low as MXN 10,000-14,000 (approximately USD 500-700), while Tec de Monterey draws students from across Latin America. During 2019-2020, approximately 45,000 foreign students were enrolled in higher education institutions in Mexico, representing a 10% increase from the previous year.

Currently, more than 34,000 Mexican students are currently studying abroad. US universities host approximately 14,000 of these students, sometimes offering in-state tuition, according to a 2019 report. Student mobility across Latin America is enhanced by the SustainT program, which allows scholars to move between Latin America and Europe, and the Erasmus+ program, which offers scholarships to students from 18 Latin American countries for graduate studies. With the growth of Mexico’s top universities and innovations at institutions like UNAM and Tec de Monterrey, it seems clear that Mexico will play an increasingly important role in advancing the development of the economies and countries of Latin America and beyond, both as hub for talent development in the region and an exemplar for higher education globally.

(A big-thank you to Jorge Cerna of BUAP, Mexico for providing expert fact-checking and editing assistance.)

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