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Mexico has made impressive improvements in education in the last two decades. In 2004, the literacy rate was at 92.2%, and the youth literacy rate (ages 15-24) was 96%. Primary and secondary education (9 years) is free and mandatory. Even though different bilingual education programs have existed since the 1960s for the indigenous communities, after a constitution reform in the late 1990s, these programs have had a new thrust, and free text books are produced in more than a dozen indigenous languages. In the 1970's, Mexico became the first country to establish a system of "distance-learning" . Schools that use this system are known as telesecundarias in Mexico. The Mexican distance learning secondary education is also transmitted to some Central American countries and to Colombia, and it is used in some southern regions of the United States as a method of bilingual education. The two largest universities in Mexico are in Mexico City National Autonomous University of Mexico (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), founded in 1551 and National Polytechnic Institute (IPN). Both universities are aimed to low wage and/or unemployed families. Quality in classrooms is not always ideal due to the fact that these institutions offer low wages to their faculty employees. The institutions are not self-sufficient. Several problems have arisen with their semi-socialist system mainly in the area of high rates of absence from faculty employees and constant strikes by both, students and faculty. To obtain a 4-year degree students can spend up to ten years inside classrooms without penalty. The semi-free education in Mexico draws large amounts of money from the Federal Government and tax payers and carry a financial burden on the country's economy. The National Autonomous University of Mexico occupies the 96th place in the Top 200 World University Ranking published by The Times Higher Education Supplement in 2005, making it the first Spanish-speaking university in the world as well as the first Latin American university. The most important private universities are Mexico's Autonomous Technological Institute (ITAM), Monterrey's Technological and Higher Education Institute (ITESM), the Ibero-American University (Universidad Ibero-Americana) and recently the Mexico Valley University (Universidad del Valle de Mexico UVM) had shown a very important growing, expanding its contact with other universities around the world. |
Mexico Information: Inside
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