Reluctant partners in modernization: The National Autonomous University of Mexico and its links with industry

Abstract

We identify the discourse which underlies a series of interviews with opinion leaders who represent academia, industry, and government in Mexico. All three sectors identify with modernization and claim that higher education should play a more active role in transferring modern technology to Mexican industry. Privately, however, all informants appear to oppose such a technology transfer for various reasons. The contrast between public and private positions suggests an eroding confidence in the role of higher education as a factor of modernization. Political power in Mexico once derived its legitimacy from social and economic stability, not from science and technology. Lately stability is increasingly being questioned, while conservative institutions of higher education such as UNAM are caught in the crossfire. Our research suggests a persistence of pre-industrial stereotypes derived from an obsolete Colonial ideology which has outworn its usefulness. These results demand a re-interpretation of the crisis in our higher education system. While the National University has consistently satisfied the demand for graduates in the country (Lorey 1993), in 1995 more than 120,000 applications for freshman registration were rejected. Graduates from public universities are being displaced from political decision-making. The question of reform of higher education in Mexico has serious implications for the future of the nation.