La crisis en la UNAM

Abstract

In the case of UNAM, the mass university model is bankrupt. The strike of 1999-2000 has shown that UNM cannot ensure minimal conditions of stability for a student population (including junior college) as large as 230 000. Clearly there must be a change.

The crisis began years ago. In 1980 UNAM graduated 8 680 bachelors, and government sources estimated that twice as many would graduate ten years later. Instead, the number of graduates leveled off at 11 000 per year. The number of registrations was limited so that the total student population at the undergraduate level was kept to 135 000. Thus the period of accelerated growth (1959-1980) finished two decades ago and period of saturation has set in.

Why are the better students turning away? Other public as well as private universities have been competing successfully with UNAM, though they are expensive, often mediocre and hard to get into. The technological and scientific fields at UNAM were formerly in high demand; however, in 1989 there were only 873 students registered in Physics, 518 in Mathematics, 250 in Geophysical Engineering and 27 in Urbanism. There is hardly enough demand to justify maintaining separate degree studies in these fields. One major effect of the crisis has been an enhancement of old structural problems at UNAM: an increase in the registration demand by low-grade applicants, a low rate of graduation efficiency, scarcity of qualified teaching personnel, and what has been termed a politicization of entrance requirements.

According to OECD only 40 of every 100 Mexican children complete grade school. Yet the number of students in higher education rose from 30 000 in 1950 to 1 250 000 in 1990. This has been attributed to "the idea which prevailed in the 1970's that universities ought to facilitate social advancement" (which surprised OCDE experts). They added naively that "what really amazed us was the degree of politicization of all issues involving higher education".