No Fees to Enroll Them All?

The State of College Access in México

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32674/jcihe.v12iSpring.1132

Keywords:

Higher Education, Compulsory Education, Compulsory Higher Education, College Access, Educational Policy, public policies in education, higher education finances, access to higher education

Abstract

Although it has one of the less expensive costs of attendance, universal access to higher education in México is still far away from becoming a reality. The federal government along with the public and private educational institutions have implemented different approaches to increase access but the gap among higher and lower strata of the population represented in HEIs seems to be widening. Recently, the federal government proposed to change the Constitution to include higher education as a right and therefore, compulsory. This essay intends to show a brief picture of the state of college access in Mexico as well as the implications of moving to a compulsory system. It ends with a series of recommendations for stakeholders to get involved in addressing the manifold issues pertaining to the state of college access and success in México.

Author Biography

  • Santiago Castiello-Gutiérrez, University of Arizona

    Santiago is currently a PhD candidate and research assistant at the Center for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Arizona. He also serves as a coordinator for CONAHEC´s student mobility program. His research interests are in internationalization of higher education, intercultural competence development and organization and administration of higher education institutions. Prior to moving to the United States, Santiago worked for nine years in México as Director for International Cooperation at the Tecnológico de Monterrey System where he later was appointed as the first Director for International Programs of the innovative shared services center.

References

Alvarado-Lagunas, Elías, José-Raúl Luyando-Cuevas, and Esteban Picazzo-Palencia. 2015. “Percepción de Los Estudiantes Sobre La Calidad de Las Universidades Privadas En Monterrey.” Revista Iberoamericana de Educación Superior 6 (17): 58–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.RIDES.2015.10.003.

ANUIES. 2019. “Anuarios Estadísticos de Educación Superior.” Información Estadística de Educación Superior. 2019. http://www.anuies.mx/informacion-y-servicios/informacion-estadistica-de-educacion-superior/anuario-estadistico-de-educacion-superior.

CEEY. 2019. “Hacia La Gratuidad de La Educación Superior. Primeros Pasos e Implicaciones Presupuestales.” Mexico City, MX. https://ceey.org.mx/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Nota-de-política-pública-03-2019.pdf.

Central Intelligence Agency. 2018. “The World Factbook.” https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/mx.html.

COPAES. 2016. “Programas Acreditados [Acredited Programs].” Mexico City, Mexico. http://sieduca.com/copaes/.

DeHoyos, Rafael, Orazio Attanasio, and Costas Meghir. 2019. “Can Scholarships Increase High School Graduation Rates? Evidence from A Randomized Control Trial in Mexico.” Washington, DC. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/976601555936652424/Can-Scholarships-Increase-High-School-Graduation-Rates-Evidence-from-A-Randomized-Control-Trial-in-Mexico.

DeHoyos, Rafael, Halsey Rogers, and Miguel Székely. 2016. Out of School and Out of Work: Risk and Opportunities for Latin America’s Ninis. Washington, DC: The World Bank. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/368441467989520420/pdf/99447-REPLACEMENT-PUB-PUBLIC.pdf.

Estrada Peredo, Nancy Gladys, Manuel de la Paz Ortega, and Manuel Gil-Antón. 2007. “From ‘Which One Do You Consider Better?’ To "Which One Is Affordable for You?: Inequality and Social Inequity in the Access to Higher Education in México.” Revista Electrónica de Investigación Educativa 9 (1). https://redie.uabc.mx/redie/article/view/162/280.

Fagg, John Edwin. 1969. Latin America, a General History. 2d ed. New York, NY: Macmillan.

Friedman, Thomas L. 2013. “How México Got Back in the Game.” New York Times, February 23, 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/opinion/sunday/friedman-how-México-got-back-in-the-game.html?_r=0.

Fuentes, Carlos. 2000. “Hacia La Educación Vitalicia [Towards Lifetime Education].” 2000. http://cdigital.uv.mx/bitstream/123456789/711/1/2000116P5.pdf.

Heller, D. E. 2013. “The Role of Finances in Postsecondary Access and Success.” In State of College Access and Completion: Improving College Success for Students from Underrepresented Groups, edited by Laura Perna and A. Jones, 96–114. Florence, KY: Routledge.

Kobayashi, José María. 1974. La Educación Como Conquista: Empresa Franciscana En México [Education as Conquest: Franciscan Company in México]. México City, MX: El Colegio de México.

Lodoño, José Luis. 1998. “Educación, Desigualdad y Crecimiento En América Latina: Una Nota Empírica [Education, Inequality and Growth in Latin America: An Empirical Note].” In Educación: La Agenda Del Siglo XXI [Education: The XXI Century Agenda], edited by H. Gómez-Buendía. Bogotá, Colombia: PNUD.

Maldonado-Maldonado, Alma. 2006. “International Cooperation and Overview of Higher Education Financing.” In Higher Education in the World 2006: The Financing of Universities, edited by GUNi, 41–54. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Miller-Flores, Dinorah. 2009. La Equidad En La Universidad: El Programa Nacional de Becas (PRONABES) y La Condición de Juventud de Los Estudiantes. [Equity at the University: The National Scholarship Programme (PRONABES) and the Status of Students’ Youth.]. Mexico City, MX: ANUIES.

Miramontes-Arteaga, Ma. Antonia, Juan Manuel Ocegueda, and Patricia Moctezuma-Hernández. 2014. La Educación Superior En México: Un Enfoque Comparativo Internacional. Mexicali, Baja California, México: Universidad Autónoma de Baja California.

Morales, Francisco. 1991. “Pedro de Gante.” Enciclopedia Franciscana [Franciscan Encyclopedia]. http://www.franciscanos.org/enciclopedia/pgante.html.

Moreno, Carlos Iván. 2019. “Obligatoriedad y Gratuidad En La Educación Superior.” Milenio: Diario Público, February 15, 2019. http://origin-www.milenio.com/opinion/carlos-ivan-moreno-arellano/dialogo-publico/obligatoriedad-y-gratuidad-en-la-educacion-superior.

MX Const. 2018. Art. III Political Constitution of the United Mexican States. Mexico City, MX.

OECD. 2015. Education at a Glance 2015: OECD Indicators. OECD Publishing. Paris: OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/eag-2015-en.

Osborn, Thomas Noel. 1976. Higher Education in Mexico: History Growth, and Problems in a Dichotomized Industry. El Paso, TX: Texas Western Press.

Pells, Rachael. 2018. “Plan for 100 New Universities in Mexico ‘Totally Impractical.’” Times Higher Education, August 2018. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/plan-100-new-universities-mexico-totally-impractical.

PWC. 2015. “The World in 2015: Will the Shift in Global Economic Power Continue?” London, England. https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/issues/the-economy/assets/world-in-2050-february-2015.pdf.

Sánchez, Axel. 2015. “Anáhuac, Tec e Ibero ‘Dirigen’ Al 77% de Las Empresas de La BMV [Anáhuac, Tec and Ibero ‘Command’ 77% of the Companies in the BMV].” El Financiero, July 29, 2015. http://www.elfinanciero.com.mx/empresas/anahuac-tec-e-ibero-dirigen-al-77-de-las-empresas-de-la-bmv.html.

SEP. 2015. “Convocatoria Del Programa Nacional de Becas [Call for the National Scholarships Program].” Subsecretaría de Educación Superior [Undersecretary of Higher Education]. 2015. http://www.cnbes.sep.gob.mx/node/141.

———. 2017. “Principales Cifras Del Sistema Educativo Nacional 2016-2017.” Ciudad de México. http://www.planeacion.sep.gob.mx/Doc/estadistica_e_indicadores/principales_cifras/principales_cifras_2016_2017_bolsillo.pdf.

Steck, Francis Borgia, and Robert Hayward Barlow. 1944. El Primer Colegio de América, Santa Cruz de Tlaltelolco [The First School in America: Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco]. México City, MX: Centro de estudios franciscanos.

Suárez Zozaya, María Herlinda. 2012. “Educación Superior Pública y Privada En México: Desigualdades Institucionales y Opiniones de Los Estudiantes.” In Juventud Precarizada: De La Formación Al Trabajo, Una Transición Riesgosa, edited by María Lucero Jiménez Guzmán and Rosana Boso, 295–325. Mexico City, MX: Centro Regional de Investigaciones Multidisciplinarias: UNAM. https://www.crim.unam.mx/web/sites/default/files/Juv_precarizada.pdf.

Tuirán, Rodolfo. 2019. “Obligatoriedad y La Gratuidad de La Educación Superior, ¿a Qué Costo?” Distancia Por Tiempos: Blog de Educación Superior de NEXOS, March 20, 2019. https://educacion.nexos.com.mx/?p=1696.

Walpole, MaryBeth. 2005. “This Test Is Unfair: Urban African American and Latino High School Students’ Perceptions of Standardized College Admission Tests.” Urban Education 40 (3): 321–49. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085905274536.

World Bank. 2016. “Mexico.” Washington, DC. https://data.worldbank.org/country/México.

Downloads

Published

2020-05-03

Issue

Section

Empirical Article

How to Cite

No Fees to Enroll Them All? The State of College Access in México. (2020). Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education, 12(Spring), 27-38. https://doi.org/10.32674/jcihe.v12iSpring.1132