Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 January 2018
The evolution of national universities in Latin America is closely related to major political and social changes. The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) is no exception. As elsewhere in Latin America, we are witnessing in Mexico the transition from a preindustrial, agricultural society to an urbanized industrialized nation. The deep transformations are reflected in the transformation of the elitist universities of the turn of the century, strictly oriented toward the liberal professions, into a new type of university whose character remains as yet undefined (Trow, 1970).