The Ibero-American University (Spanish: Universidad Iberoamericana), commonly known as La Ibero and abbreviated as UIA, is a private Catholic Mexican higher education institution sponsored by the Mexican Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). In 2009, UIA received the SEP-ANUIES Prize as the best private university in Mexico. The university's flagship campus is located in the Santa Fe district of Mexico City.
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.
Other institutions affiliated with, but independent from, Ibero in Mexico City are found in Guadalajara, León, Torreón, Puebla, Playas de Tijuana, and Jaltepec. Together, they form the Jesuit University System, a network of Jesuit-run private universities.
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History
The university was founded in 1943 by the Society of Jesus, but with the significant aid of Rodolfo Brito Foucher, the rector of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. 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 in the 1930s when the government attempted to implement education toward socialism in the Mexican universities.
Originally called Centro Cultural Universitario, Ibero grew into a full-scale university after ten years 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
In 1988 Universidad Iberoamericana moved to a 48-acre (19 hectares) new campus in the Santa Fe area of Mexico City. Besides classrooms, laboratories, and workshops in physics, chemistry, photography, design, psychology, engineering, communications, architecture, 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.
Ibero-American University Tijuana
Ibero-American University Tijuana (Universidad Iberoamericana Tijuana) in Playas de Tijuana, Tijuana, Mexico, was founded by the Jesuits in 1982. It is a part of the Mexican Jesuit University System, as one of the Universidad Iberoamericana Mexico City colleges.
In 1982, Universidad Iberoamericana opened its campus in Tijuana at two sites, one rented and the other on the premises of La Paz College. Later space was rented in the Civil Hospital building. At first only high school studies and degrees in architecture, graphic design, and law were offered. In 1985, the cornerstone was laid for the present building.
Departments
Today the university's Mexico City Campus is made up of 19 academic departments, which offer a total of 36 academic programs.
Faculty
Luis E. Miramontes – Chemist, inventor of the first oral contraceptive
Guillermo Arriaga – Screenwriter of Amores perros, Babel, 21 Grams and other films. Oscar Nominee
José Miguel Insulza – Chilean politician and Secretary General of the Organization of American States.
Jorge González Torres – Founder of the Ecologist Green Party of Mexico
Demetrio Sodi – Former congressman and senator
Loretta Ortíz Ahlf; researcher and the only Mexican invited as a lecturer to The Hague Academy of International Law
Augusto H. Álvarez – Architect (Torre Latinoamericana and Mexico City International Airport)
Rodolfo Barragán Schwarz – Architect
Isaac Broid Zajman – Architect (Telcel Building)
Enrique Carral Icaza – Architect (Mexico City International Airport)
Juan José Díaz Infante Núñez – Architect
Carlos Mijares Bracho – Architect
J. Francisco Serrano Cacho – Architect
Sylvia Schmelkes – Sociologist and education researcher
Leonardo Javier Torres Nafarrate; Sociologist researcher, specialized on Niklas Luhmann's theories
Alumni
Its most famous alumnus is Vicente Fox Quesada, President of Mexico 2000-2006. Other distinguished alums with high name recognition internationally are actress Salma Hayek; Academy Award-winning film maker Alejandro González Iñárritu; and journalist Jorge Ramos.
Science and engineering
Rodrigo Cárdenas Domínguez — Engineer physicist, CEO and owner of Infinity Technologies
Mauricio Terrones Maldonado — Nanosciences and nanotechnology researcher
Asier Díaz-Caneja — Engineer physicist, CEO and co-owner of Team Hector