Location Mexico City, Mexico Phone +52 55 5950 4000 Founded 7 March 1943 | Campus Urban Mascot Iñaki | |
 | ||
Motto in English The Truth shall set us free Type Private Research institution Established 1943; 74 years ago (1943) President David Fernández Dávalos, S.J. Address Prolongacion Paseo de la Reforma 880, Santa Fe, Contadero, 01219 Ciudad de México, CDMX, Mexico Motto La verdad nos hará libres (Spanish Language) Affiliation Catholic Church (Society of Jesus) Notable alumni Salma Hayek, Vicente Fox, Jorge Ramos, Roberto Hernández Ramírez, Brooke Baldwin Similar Universidad Iberoamericana Puebla, Instituto Tecnológico Autónom, National Autonomous University, Monterrey Institute of Technolo, Panamerican University Profiles | ||
The Ibero-American University (in Spanish: Universidad Iberoamericana, abbreviated UIA but commonly known as Ibero) is one of the most prestigious universities in Mexico and in Latin America. The private institution of higher education is sponsored by the Society of Jesus, and it is recognized as having an international-grade level of excellence. In 2009, the UIA received the SEP-ANUIES Prize as the best private university in Mexico. The Ibero's flagship campus is located in the Santa Fe district of Mexico City, and other campuses are located in Guadalajara, León, Torreón, Puebla, and Playas de Tijuana.
Contents
Its main library, Biblioteca Francisco Xavier Clavigero, holds more than 400,000 books and journals and as of 2007 is one of the largest university libraries in the country.. It also has one of the largest law libraries in Mexico.
History
The university was founded in 1943 as a Jesuit institution by the Catholic hierarchy, but with significant aid of the rector of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Rodolfo Brito Foucher. Brito Foucher, a lawyer and head of UNAM's law faculty before becoming rector, was of the opinion that this was not counter to the Constitution of 1917's prohibition of Catholic involvement in education, since the article did not specify higher education but only primary and secondary. A key group in the founding of Ibero was former student activists from the Jesuit-directed Unión Nacional de Estudiantes Católicos (UNEC). The founding came at a time when church-state relations in Mexico had improved over the late 1920s during the Cristero War and the 1930s when the government attempted to implement education toward socialism in the Mexican universities.
Originally called Centro Cultural Universitario, after ten years the Ibero grew into a full-scale university due to the patronage of the business community which donated funds for building the campus and for guaranteeing loans as the university was being established. When the Mexican economy expanded during the 1940s to 1960s, Ibero-trained professionals who entered the private sector, many of the former leaders of the UNEC served on the University's board of trustees. Ibero had the aim of promoting Catholic culture and of training elites to take leading roles in Mexican society. Ibero has trained a number of successful businessmen and politicians, including the successful presidential candidate of the National Action Party (Mexico), Vicente Fox.
The Society of Jesus has from its start in the 16th century been a leader in humanistic education. When Jesuits reached New Spain in 1572, their religious and educational zeal led them to create renowned teaching and research centers – such as the colleges of St. Ildefonso, Vizcainas, and St. Peter and St. Paul, to mention a few of the prestigious institutions of that time. The Ibero is part of a network of 8 Jesuit universities located in various Mexican cities which, in turn, are part of 31 Jesuit universities and colleges in Latin American and some 200 worldwide.
Campus
Universidad Iberoamericana moved to its modern 48-acre (20 hectares) campus in 1988, in the Santa Fe area of Mexico City. Besides classrooms, laboratories, and workshops in physics, chemistry, photography, psychology, engineering, communications, architecture, design, and nutrition, the university houses the Francisco Xavier Clavigero library, the FM 90.9 radio station, and several auditoriums. Other facilities on campus include sports fields and related conveniences, a medical center, three cafeterias, an on-campus bookstore, a stationery shop, bank branches, and other university stores.
Departments
Today the university's Mexico City Campus is made up of 19 academic departments, which offer a total of 36 academic programs.