“Nationalization of science and Mexicanization of knowledge”, the foundation of the National University of Mexico in 100th Anniversary Celebration

Abstract

In 2010 Mexico celebrated the bicentennial of the Independence, the centennial of the Revolution and the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the National University of Mexico.

This article analyses the genesis of relevant education institutions founded around 1910, whose original idea had come a long way already: formulated and nurtured by Justo Sierra, who then transferred it to his closest collaborators Ezequiel A. Chávez and Porfirio Parra.

Convincing politicians of the relevance of both the University and the School of Higher Studies was, unquestionably, a great victory of Sierra. Such institutions lead to later development of secondary and tertiary education in Mexico.  Education’s national, free and lay nature; its explicit openness to ideologies as well as to all scientific and humanistic disciplines; and its primary interest on the development of research and specialization were unimaginable achievements in the early years.