Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico in the context of Palacio de la Autonomía

⭐ Core Definition: Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico

The Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico (Spanish: Real y Pontificia Universidad de México) was a university founded on 21 September 1551 by Royal Decree signed by Charles I of Spain, in Valladolid, Spain. It is generally considered one of the first universities founded in North America and second in the Americas (preceded by the National University of San Marcos in Lima, Peru, chartered on May 12 of the same year, and the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, formerly known as the Royal College of Saint Nicholas, established in 1540. After the Mexican War of Independence it was renamed the University of Mexico.

When Mexican liberals were in power at intervals in the nineteenth century, it was closed, since liberals sought to put education in the hands of the state rather than the Roman Catholic Church. Its first closure was in 1833, when Valentín Gómez Farías implemented liberal policies. When Antonio López de Santa Anna returned to power, the university was reopened. It was finally abolished in 1865 during the Second Mexican Empire by Maximilian I of Mexico. Scattered institutions, including secularized successors of its faculties of law and medicine, other secular colleges founded by liberals on the model of the French grandes ecoles, and religious establishments outside Mexico City, continued without interruption.

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Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico in the context of Education in Mexico

Education in Mexico has a long history. Indigenous peoples in Central Mexico created institutions such as the telpochcalli and the calmecac before the Spanish conquest. The Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico, the second oldest university in the Americas, was founded by royal decree in 1551. Education in Mexico was, until the early twentieth century, largely confined to males from urban and wealthy segments and under the auspices of the Catholic Church.

The Mexican state has been directly involved in education since the nineteenth century, promoting secular education. Control of education was a source of an ongoing conflict between the Mexican state and the Catholic Church, which since the colonial era had exclusive charge of education. The mid-nineteenth-century Liberal Reform separated church and state, which had a direct impact on education. President Benito Juárez sought the expansion of public schools. During the long tenure of President Porfirio Díaz, the expansion of education became a priority under a cabinet-level post held by Justo Sierra; Sierra also served President Francisco I. Madero in the early years of the Mexican Revolution.

View the full Wikipedia page for Education in Mexico

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