Program for Research On Private Higher Education

Mexican postsecondary education is expanding at a fast pace. The national enrollment represents about one fourth of the college-age population. Private higher education enrollment is growing at a faster pace and presents a significant increase on the number of private institutions. Scholars have highlighted factors influencing the increase in both students and institutions: a) there is a growing population of Mexicans who hold high school diplomas and wish to continue their formation, b) public institutions have been consistently under-funded for years, limiting with it their capacity to accept more applicants, and c) there is a fairly limited governmental oversight on the quality and operation of private institutions. These factors, among others, have fostered a very dynamic private sector in Mexico´s higher education with the appearance of dozens of new private institutions every year. Many of the new institutions are small, garage-size, low-profile operations that coexist with more serious demand-absorbing institutions that strive for reasonable quality on job-oriented programs at affordable prices.

For the full story (shown with permission), see The Chronicle of Higher Education, May 6, 2005, "In Mexico, an Explosion of Private Universities Serves an Eager Market," by Marion Lloyd.

Mexico´s higher education system has been consistently growing in the last decades. Although it is not as big as in other Latin American countries, enrollment in private institutions nowadays account for one third of the nations total. The private sector presents a mix of a) high-quality elite institutions (both lay and religiously oriented), b) serious demand-absorbing institutions, and c) low-quality demand-absorbing institutions. The latter group pose a great challenge for the educational authorities because they are not accredited but comply with minimal requirements to operate as licensed institutions. The serious demand-absorbing institutions have been also under the scrutiny of scholars who are suspicious of their accelerated growth and pose several questions about the comparative quality of the education they provide. The general public, however, seems to be less critical of these institutions and have started to think about them as "the next affordable option", using the analogy of low-cost airlines that could not be as comfortable or neat as regular airlines but serve the basic purpose of transportation.

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	Director: Daniel C. Levy