The National Polytechnic Institute of Mexico ( es, Instituto Politécnico Nacional de México; ), abbreviated IPN, is one of the largest

public universities A public university or public college is a university or college that is in owned by the state or receives significant public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private university. Whether a national university ...

in Mexico with 171,581 students at the

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-le ...

and

postgraduate Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate ( bachelor's) degree. The organization and ...

levels. It is the second-best university in Mexico in the technical and engineering domain according to the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2018. It was founded on 1 January 1936 during the administration of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Lázaro Cárdenas del Río Lázaro is a Spanish or Portuguese-based given name or surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name * Lázaro (footballer, born 1990), full name Lázaro Vinícius Alves Martins, Brazilian footballer * Lázaro (footballer, born 2002), f ...

. The institute consists of 98 academic units offering 293 courses of study. It includes 78 technical careers, 80

and 135

programs. Its main campus, called 'Unidad Profesional

Adolfo López Mateos Adolfo López Mateos (; 26 May 1909 – 22 September 1969) was a Mexican politician who served as President of Mexico from 1958 to 1964. Beginning his political career as a campaign aide of José Vasconcelos during his run for president, Ló ...

' or 'Zacatenco', located in northern

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

, covers approximately . The IPN is based primarily in

, but with several research institutes and facilities distributed over 22 states.

History

The institute was founded on January 1, 1936, during the administration of

Lázaro Cárdenas Lázaro Cárdenas del Río (; 21 May 1895 – 19 October 1970) was a Mexican army officer and politician who served as president of Mexico from 1934 to 1940. Born in Jiquilpan, Michoacán, to a working-class family, Cárdenas joined the Me ...

in what had been previously known as the ''Ex hacienda Santo Tomás'' — a large estate initially owned by Spanish '' conqueror''

Hernán Cortés Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquess of the Valley of Oaxaca (; ; 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish ''conquistador'' who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of w ...

in the 16th century and donated by the

federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-gover ...

. Prominent astronomer

Luis Enrique Erro Luis Enrique Erro (January 7, 1897 – January 18, 1955) was a Mexican astronomer, politician, and educational reformer. Born in Mexico City, Erro studied civil engineering and accounting, among other subjects. He occupied the post of head of ...

, former

revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective, to refer to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor. ...

Juan de Dios Bátiz Paredes ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

and former minister of education

Narciso Bassols Narciso Bassols García (October 22, 1897 – July 24, 1959) was a Mexican lawyer, socialist politician, ambassador to France, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom, and professor of law at the National University of Mexico. He co-founde ...

were among its initial promoters. During the administration of former director Alejo Peralta sufficient lands were given to IPN. Expropriated lands of Santa Maria Ticomán (213 ha) and San Pedro Zacatenco (43 ha) were used. The construction of what is now the Professional Unit "

" (Zacatenco) began in 1958. In 1959, former

, the former minister of education

Jaime Torres Bodet Jaime Mario Torres Bodet (17 April 1902 – 13 May 1974) was a prominent Mexican politician and writer who served in the executive cabinet of three Presidents of Mexico. Life Torres Bodet was born in Mexico City. His mother was Emilia Bodet ...

, and former director of IPN Eugenio Mendez Docurro, inaugurated the first four buildings of Zacatenco, which were occupied by the Superior School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (ESIME) and the Superior School of Engineering and Architecture (ESIA).

Organization

The institute is organized around 98 academic units including 18 vocational high schools (operates as CECyT), 26

university college In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies ...

s, 20 scientific and technical research centers, 17

continuing education Continuing education (similar to further education in the United Kingdom and Ireland) is an all-encompassing term within a broad list of post-secondary learning activities and programs. The term is used mainly in the United States and Canada. ...

centers, 4 units for educational support, 3 support units for education innovation, 8 support units for research, development and technological and enterprise foment, and 2 units affiliated to science, enterprise research and development. These schools are primarily in

, although several extension and research facilities are distributed over 22 states. Some units (particularly the semi-autonomous, internationally renowned CINVESTAV) enjoy a high degree of academic and budgetary freedom. The institute as a whole is headed by a

director-general A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'' ) or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a governmen ...

appointed by the

President of Mexico The president of Mexico ( es, link=no, Presidente de México), officially the president of the United Mexican States ( es, link=no, Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos), is the head of state and head of government of Mexico. Under the ...

, usually (but not always) after some consultation with members of its academic community. Since December 2020, its director-general Arturo Reyes Sandoval. In addition to its academic endeavors, and as part of its cultural promotion strategy, the institute operates '

Canal Once Once (Eleven; formerly Once TV México and Canal Once) is a Mexican educational broadcast television network owned by National Polytechnic Institute. The network's flagship station is XEIPN-TDT channel 11 in Mexico City. It broadcasts across ...

' ('Channel Eleven'), the oldest public broadcast service in Latin America featuring original cultural, scientific, information and entertainment programming, foreign shows and classic, rare, and non-commercial films from all over the world.

Academics

EDIFICIO DE LA UNIDAD POLITECNICA PARA EL DESARROLLO Y LA COMPETIVIDAD EMPRESARIAL

The institute offers 80 undergraduate programs leading to four- or five-year

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to si ...

s and 135 postgraduate programs leading to 29

postgraduate diploma A postgraduate diploma (PgD, PgDip, PGDip, PG Dip., PGD, Dipl. PG, PDE) is a postgraduate qualification awarded after a university degree, which supplements the original degree and awards them with a graduate diploma. Countries that award pos ...

s, 70

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

s and 36

doctorate degrees A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' l ...

. Like most public universities in Mexico, in addition to its undergraduate and graduate schools the institute sponsors several vocational high schools called 'Centros de Estudios Científicos y Tecnológicos' (C.E.C. y T.), most of which are in

Greater Mexico City Greater Mexico City refers to the conurbation around Mexico City, officially called Metropolitan Area of the Valley of Mexico ( es, Zona metropolitana del Valle de México). It encompasses Mexico City itself and 60 adjacent municipalities of the S ...

. Upon completion, they lead to a technician degree. For this level of study, the institute offers 78 technical careers.

Athletics

IPN fields 27 varsity teams in sports or activities such as

archery Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In ...

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

body building Bodybuilding is the use of progressive resistance exercise to control and develop one's muscles (muscle building) by muscle hypertrophy for aesthetic purposes. It is distinct from similar activities such as powerlifting because it focuses o ...

bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), though ...

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

cycling Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from ...

, frontenis,

gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, s ...

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the ...

indoor soccer Indoor soccer or arena soccer (known internationally as indoor football, fast football, or showball) is five-a-side version of minifootball, derived from association football and adapted to be played in walled hardcourt indoor arena. Indoor s ...

judo is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo") ...

karate (; ; Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the influence of Chinese martial arts, particularly Fuj ...

kendo is a modern Japanese martial art, descended from kenjutsu (one of the old Japanese martial arts, swordsmanship), that uses bamboo swords ( shinai) as well as protective armor ( bōgu). Today, it is widely practiced within Japan and has spre ...

mountaineering Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, ...

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean martial arts, Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast k ...

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...

, touch football,

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

weightlifting Weightlifting generally refers to activities in which people lift weights, often in the form of dumbbells or barbells. People lift various kinds of weights for a variety of different reasons. These may include various types of competition; pro ...

, and

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat s ...

. The university maintains a fierce rivalry with all the athletic teams from the

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...

(UNAM); it has a particularly bitter competition with UNAM's football program, the " Pumas Dorados" (''Golden Pumas'').

Notable people

Notable alumni

Scientists and technologists

González_camarena_guillermo_ing,_EN_SU_DESPACHO

Guillermo González Camarena Guillermo González Camarena (17 February 1917 – 18 April 1965) was a Mexican electrical engineer who was the inventor of a color-wheel type of color television. Early life González Camarena was born in Guadalajara, Mexico. He was the younge ...

: television pioneer; inventor of an early

color television Color television or Colour television is a television transmission technology that includes color information for the picture, so the video image can be displayed in color on the television set. It improves on the monochrome or black-and-white t ...

transmission system. *

Jerzy Rzedowski Jerzy Rzedowski Rotter (born December 27, 1926) is a Mexican botanist. His focus is on Mexican floristics, taxonomy, and ecology. Education and personal life He was born in Lwów, Poland (now in Ukraine) to Arnold and Ernestyna (nee Rotter) Rzed ...

: plant scientist; pioneer of neotropical floristics. * Esther Orozco: biology researcher, winner of the 1997

UNESCO/Institut Pasteur Medal The UNESCO/Institut Pasteur Medal is a biennial international science prize created jointly by UNESCO and the Pasteur Institute in 1995 "to be awarded in recognition of outstanding research contributing to a beneficial impact on human health and t ...

and the 2006 L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science for her work on

amoebiasis Amoebiasis, or amoebic dysentery, is an infection of the intestines caused by a parasitic amoeba '' Entamoeba histolytica''. Amoebiasis can be present with no, mild, or severe symptoms. Symptoms may include lethargy, loss of weight, colonic ...

. * Evangelina Villegas: biochemist laureated with the 2000

World Food Prize The World Food Prize is an international award recognizing the achievements of individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity, or availability of food in the world. Conceived by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nor ...

and whose work with

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American English, North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous ...

led to the development of

Quality Protein Maize Quality Protein Maize (QPM) is a family of maize varieties. QPM grain contains nearly twice as much lysine and tryptophan, amino acids that are essential for humans and monogastric animals but are limiting amino acids in grains. QPM is a product ...

(QPM). * Pablo Rudomín: neuroscientist laureated with the

Prince of Asturias Award The Princess of Asturias Awards ( es, Premios Princesa de Asturias, links=no, ast, Premios Princesa d'Asturies, links=no), formerly the Prince of Asturias Awards from 1981 to 2014 ( es, Premios Príncipe de Asturias, links=no), are a series of a ...

(1987). * Gilberto Calvillo Vives: president of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

' Statistics Commission. * Alberto Pérez Gómez: architectural historian and winner of the 1984

Alice Davis Hitchcock Award The Alice Davis Hitchcock Book Award, established in 1949, by the Society of Architectural Historians, annually recognizes "the most distinguished work of scholarship in the history of architecture published by a North American scholar." The oldes ...

. * Ruth Rivera Marin: architect, the first woman to study architecture at the College of Engineering and Architecture. *

Constantino Reyes-Valerio Constantino Reyes-Valerio (10 January 1922 - 13 December 2006) was a prominent Mexican scholar of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures, particularly the Aztec and the Maya as well as the Colonial Art. Reyes-Valerio identified the artistic cont ...

: chemist and art historian, discovered the recipe to create Maya blue and coined the term Arte Indocristiano. * Raúl Rojas: professor of computer science and mathematics and a renowned specialist in artificial neural networks.

Politicians

Centro Cultural Jaime Torres Bodet (el queso)

Ernesto Zedillo Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León (; born 27 December 1951) is a Mexican economist and politician. He was 61st president of Mexico from 1 December 1994 to 30 November 2000, as the last of the uninterrupted 71-year line of Mexican presidents from t ...

: former

(1994-2000) *

Josefina Vázquez Mota Josefina Eugenia Vázquez Mota ( o̞.se̞'fi.na'βas.ke̞s'mo̞.ta (born 20 January 1961, in Mexico City) is a businessperson and politician who was the presidential candidate of the National Action Party (PAN) for the 2012 elections. Vázqu ...

: former

Secretary of Education (Mexico) The Mexican Secretariat of Public Education ( in Spanish ''Secretaría de Educación Pública'', ''SEP'') is a federal government authority with cabinet representation and the responsibility for overseeing the development and implementation of ...

* Reyes Tamez:

Secretary of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

during the Fox administration * Victor Bravo Ahuja:

during the Echeverría administration * Eugenio Méndez Docurro: Secretariat of Communications and Transportation during the Echeverría administration * Héctor Mayagoitia Domínguez: former Governor of Durango (1974-1979) * Miguel Borge Martín: former Governor of Quintana Roo (1987-1993) * Roberto Kobeh González:

ICAO The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international a ...

Council President (2006-2014) * Luis Montes de Oca: former

Secretary of Finance (Mexico) The Secretariat of the Treasury and Public Credit ( es, Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público, SHCP) is the finance minister, finance ministry of Mexico. The Secretary of the Treasury is the head of the department, and is a member of the M ...

1927–1932

Notable faculty

:''See also : Instituto Politécnico Nacional faculty'' *

Alexander Balankin Alexander Balankin (born March 3, 1958) is a Mexican scientist of Russian origin (:ru:Баланкин, Александр Сергеевич, Баланкин, Александр Сергеевич) whose work in the field of fractal mechanics an ...

: scientist, winner of the 2005 UNESCO Science Prize for his works on fractal mechanics. * Heberto Castillo: inventor of tridilosa and founder of several political parties. *

Juan O'Gorman Juan O'Gorman (July 6, 1905 – January 17, 1982) was a Mexican painter and architect. Early life and family Juan O'Gorman was born on 6 July 1905 in Coyoacán, then a village to the south of Mexico City and now a borough of the Federal Distri ...

: architect and painter. * Arturo Rosenblueth: physician, physiologist, and noted researcher.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Instituto Politecnico Nacional Miguel Hidalgo, Mexico City Educational institutions established in 1936 1936 establishments in Mexico