Forward-thinking institutions Guarantee a bright future

Article - November 6, 2012

Choc-a-bloc with excellent universities, Mexican students have quite an offering to choose from for their tertiary education – and fortunately for them, the geographic distribution of these institutes is quite fair, meaning there is no need to pack their bags and head to the capital.

ITESM BROADCASTS ITS VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY DISTANCE EDUCATION COURSES, CONFERENCES AND SEMINARS FROM ITS MEXICO STATE (ABOVE) AND MONTERREY CAMPUSES

This holds true for scientific and technological studies, as well, with some of the country’s best science universities located as far as Monterrey, Guadalajara and Merida on the Yucatan peninsula.

The National Polytechnic Institute’s Centre for Research and Advanced Studies (Cinvestav as it is known in Mexico) is a scientific research institute with nine research centres scattered throughout the country. Its 28 research departments cover the exact and natural sciences, biology, health, engineering, and social sciences and the humanities.

Dr Rene Asomoza Palacio, General Director of Cinvestav, says that Mexico could well do with even more institutions of this type, since just 1 per cent of the world’s published research originates in Mexico. “In our case, Cinvestav has conducted important research. We’ve got researchers of local and global renown here, but there are just 646 of us,” he explains.

One of Cinvestav’s centres is located in Guanajuato, a state that boasts a network of public universities – Universidad de Guanajuato (UG) – is also heavy in scientific research. Tracing its roots back to 1732, UG today boasts world-class equipment and high-tech infrastructure that allows for research of international standard. Moreover, CONACYT, the National Council of Science and Technology, has recognised UG as the state university with the highest number of internationally competitive postgraduate programmes.

As Jose Manuel Cabrera Sixto, the current Rector of UG explains, his institution has strengthened relations with the UK by signing a collaboration agreement with entities such as the University of Manchester.

Yet another outstanding technologically focused institution of higher learning is Tecnologico de Monterrey (ITESM). Ranked by US News and World Report as the seventh best university in Latin America, this technological institute was originally founded in 1943 in the northeastern city of Monterrey, yet now has 31 campuses in other cities throughout Mexico, in addition to sites and liaison offices abroad.