The Emergence of the Puebla State Popular Autonomous University as a Successful Mexican Research University

Abstract

This chapter explores the strategies that a private Catholic Mexican university employed to incorporate research into its institutional mission. Over the past two decades the Puebla State Popular Autonomous University (UPAEP: Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla) has strived, while maintaining its traditional teaching mission, to respond to the regional and global influences on higher education that increasingly emphasize research and the transfer of knowledge for economic purposes (Chen et al. 2005; Stromquist and Monkman 2000). The intent was to preserve within the university the human and spiritual dimensions of education while simultaneously leveraging research capacity. The collaborative efforts of UPAEP administrators, faculty, staff, and students represent innovative approaches to this endeavor, not only within the context of Mexican higher education but also in Latin America. Their efforts are enabling UPAEP to become an example of a successful twenty-first-century Latin American university in which teaching, learning, research, and the transfer of knowledge are concurrently paramount.