Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education
Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey | ||
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Motto | Espíritu emprendedor con sentido humano. | |
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Type | Non-profit Private
Organization
Chairman Ricardo Saldívar Escajadillo | |
Rector | David Garza Salazar | |
Academic staff | 9,916 (2019)[3] | |
Students | 91,200 (2019)[3] | |
Undergraduates | 57,066 (2019)[3] | |
Postgraduates | 6,984 (2019)[3] | |
Other students | 27,150 (2019)[3] | |
Location | , , | |
Campus | 26 across Mexico[4] | |
Colors | Blue | |
Nickname | Borregos Salvajes | |
Mascot | Teus[5] | |
Website | tec | |
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Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM; Spanish: Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey), also known as Technological Institute of Monterrey (Spanish: Tecnológico de Monterrey) or just Tec, is a private non-profit research university based in Monterrey, Mexico, which has grown to include 35 campuses located across 25 cities in the country and 22 liaison offices in other 15 countries.[6][4]
The university was founded in 1943 by Eugenio Garza Sada, who was educated at MIT in the United States. Eugenio Garza Sada was an industrialist and philanthropist from Monterrey.
ITESM was the first university outside the U.S. to establish an internet connection in the Western Hemisphere, linking the University of Texas at San Antonio directly.[7]
It is also one of Mexico’s leading universities in terms of patents, particularly in:[8]
- Biomedicine.
- Biotechnology.
- agroindustry.
- Electrical, aerospace engineering and manufacturing.
The business school, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels (master’s and doctoral programs), is among the most recognized in the Western Hemisphere Most of its subjects—such as economics, marketing, business administration, accounting, and finance—are ranked among the best in the world.[9]
(ITESM) is one of the institutions responsible for the rapid industrialization of Mexico, which has helped position the country as the sixth most industrialized nation in the world—ranking just behind China, the United States, Germany, Japan, and India.[10]
Numerous private companies actively collaborate with ITESM to carry out joint research projects and develop patents aimed at optimizing processes and generating a highly skilled workforce.
The majority of the student body from ITESM who studied abroad went to the following continents, including both students and staff:[11]
History
Early years
The institute was founded on September 6, 1943, by a group of local businessmen led by
In its early years the Institute operated at Abasolo 858 Oriente in a large, two-story house located a block and a half away from Zaragoza Square, behind the city's Metropolitan Cathedral.]
Because the operations of the local companies were highly reliant on U.S. markets, investments, and technology; internationalization became one of its earliest priorities. In 1950 it became the first foreign university in history to be accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS),[14][page needed] one of the six regional accreditation agencies recognized by the United States Department of Education. Its foreign accreditation would end up being a decisive influence in its development, as it was forced to submit itself to external evaluation earlier than most Mexican universities (1967)[14][page needed] and unlocked additional sources of revenue, such as tuition funds from foreign students interested in taking summer courses in Mexico for full-academic credit.[14][page needed]
Expansion
Its growth outside the city of Monterrey began in the late-1960s, when both its rector and head of academics lobbied for expansion. A first attempt, funded a few years earlier by several businessmen from Mexicali, Baja California, was staffed and organized by the Institute but faced opposition from the Board of Trustees once the federal government refused any additional subsidy[15] and members of the Board cast doubt on its ability to get funds as an out-of-state university. At the end the project was renamed Centro de Enseñanza Técnica y Superior (CETYS) and grew into a fully independent institution.[13][page needed][16][page needed]
Aside from the CETYS experiment and the 150 hectares bought in 1951 for the agricultural program's experimental facilities in nearby
In 1987, when the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools demanded faculty members with master's degrees to lecture 100% of its undergraduate courses,
Campuses

There are thirty-one campuses of the Institute distributed in twenty-five Mexican cities. Each campus is relatively independent but shares a national academic curriculum (see Academics). The flagship campus is located in Monterrey, where the national, system-wide rectorate is located. Most of them deliver both high school and undergraduate education, some offer postgraduate programs and only eight (Cumbres, Eugenio Garza Sada, Eugenio Garza Lagüera, Santa Catarina, Metepec, Santa Anita, Esmeralda and Valle Alto) deliver high school courses exclusively. Nevertheless, curricular and extension courses and seminars are usually available at most facilities.[citation needed]
Campuses by region

Former campuses include Celaya (Prepa Tec, closed in 2020), Veracruz (closed in 2021), Guaymas (transferred to TecMilenio University in the early 2000s) and Mazatlán (transferred to TecMilenio University in 2009).[21]
- North: Monterrey, PrepaTec Cumbres, PrepaTec Eugenio Garza Lagüera, PrepaTec Eugenio Garza Sada, Prepa Tec Santa Catarina, PrepaTec Valle Alto, Aguascalientes, Chihuahua, Ciudad Juárez, Laguna, Saltillo, Tampico and Zacatecas.
- Centro: Mexico City, Santa Fe, State of Mexico, PrepaTec Esmeralda, Toluca
- South: Chiapas, Cuernavaca, Hidalgo, PrepaTec Metepec, Puebla
- West: Colima, Guadalajara, Irapuato, León, Morelia, PrepaTec Navojoa, Northern Sonora, Obregón, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, PrepaTec Santa Anita and Sinaloa.



As of June 2019, campuses were divided into the following Mexican regions:[22]
Other infrastructure
In addition to the campuses, the Institute manages:
- The Ignacio A. Santos Medical School, the Hospital San José and the Zambrano-Hellion Medical Center.[23]
- Eight international sites in Argentina (Buenos Aires), Colombia (Bogotá, Medellín), Ecuador (Guayaquil and Quito), Panama (Panama City), Peru (Lima) and the United States (Miami) offering extension courses, research and international consulting.[4][24]
- Fifteen liaison offices in charge of forging international partnerships and negotiating professional internships and academic exchanges with local universities, companies and civil institutions. Current liaison offices are located in Belgium (Brussels), Canada (Montreal and Vancouver), China (Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai), France (Nice and Paris), Italy (Florence, Macerata and Verona), Switzerland (Fribourg), Spain (Barcelona and Madrid) and the United States (Boston, Dallas and Washington, D.C.)[4]
Organization
All campuses are sponsored by
Former heads of the Institute include:
- director-general.[28]
- Roberto Guajardo Suárez (1947–1951) second director-general.[28]
- Víctor Bravo Ahuja (1951–1958) third director-general, and from April 11, 1955, first rector.[29]
- Fernando García Roel (1959–1984) second rector.[28]
- Rafael Rangel Sostmann (1985–2011) third rector.[30]
- Salvador Alva (2011–2019) fourth rector and Executive President.[31]
Since 2020, The Tecnológico de Monterrey Rector and Executive President is David Garza Salazar.
High schools
Following the historical trend of Mexico's largest universities,
Academics
Academically, the university is organized into several departments and divisions —as opposed to the traditional
As of 2010[update], the institute offers 57 undergraduate degrees, of which 37 are taught in English and are generally awarded after nine semesters of study (except for
Admissions
Since 1969 the Institute requires every college applicant to achieve a minimum pass mark at an academic aptitude test which is 900 out of 1600. (
Accreditations

Studies at the institute are officially accredited by the
The quality of its programs is also audited by the Institute of Food Technologists, the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management and by the national accrediting councils of Mexico, such as the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (Consejo para la Acreditación de la Educación Superior, COPAES) and the Inter-Institutional Committees for Higher Education Evaluation (Comités Interinstitucionales de Evaluación de la Educación Superior, CIEES).[41]
As of 2017[update], 169 undergraduate degrees were accredited by national accrediting councils and 36 were accredited by international accrediting agencies.
Academic memberships
The institute is the only Latin American institution at the European Consortium of Innovative Universities (ECIU) —an organization committed to innovations in both teaching and learning[42]— and at Universitas 21; an international network of research-intensive universities established as an "international reference point and resource for strategic thinking on issues of global significance."[43] It is also the only Mexican university, along the National Autonomous University of Mexico, to be enrolled at the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, an international consortium of leading research universities including Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley and Caltech.[44] The institute was also the first private university to become a member of the National Association of Universities and Institutions of Higher Education of Mexico (ANUIES) back when it was composed entirely by public universities (1958)[14] and is a full member of the Mexican Federation of Private Institutions of Higher Education (Federación de Instituciones Mexicanas Particulares de Educación Superior, FIMPES). The university recently became a partner of Washington University in St. Louis through the McDonnell International Scholars Academy.[45][46]
Faculty

The institute has over 10,000 professors at high school, undergraduate and postgraduate levels: 2,207 tenured and 7,900 associated professors, and all of them have the appropriate academic credentials to lecture at their corresponding academic level according to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.[3] As of 2017[update] some 470 professors taught courses, worked in international projects or attended seminars or congresses at foreign universities while some 590 foreign professors taught courses at the institute.[3] As for their academic development, its faculty training program was bestowed with the 2004 Andrew Heiskell Award for Innovation in International Education by the Institute of International Education.[47]
Libraries
The institute has at least thirty-three libraries in twenty-five Mexican cities holding over 2.4 million
Rankings
University rankings | |
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Global – Overall | |
ARWU World[50] | 801–900 (2022) |
QS World[51] | =184 (2024) |
THE World[52] | 601–800 (2024) |
USNWR Global[53] | =759 (2023) |
2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | ||||||||
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QS[54] | 279 | 253 | 238 | 206 | 199 | 178 | 158 | 155 | 161 | 161
EGADE , in Monterrey, Mexico.
Overall, the institute is the only Mexican university besides the École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris, it ranked 224 out of 390 worldwide.[56]
Among its graduate schools, BusinessWeek magazine (2005),[58] among the 100 best graduate business schools in the world by the Economist Intelligence Unit (2009)[59] and its OneMBA program, delivered in partnership with four different institutions (see Joint programs and international partnerships below) was ranked 27 worldwide by the Financial Times in its 2009 Executive Master in Business Administration rankings.[60]
Joint programs and international partnerships
Some of its academic programs are offered as joint degrees or in partnership with foreign universities:
![]()
Medical schoolGuadalajara .![]() The Ignacio A. Santos School of Medicine (Escuela de Medicina Ignacio A. Santos, aka: EMIS) is the medical school division of the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM). Established in 1978 in Monterrey, Mexico.[70] The School of Medicine was founded to satisfy the country's need for high quality medical training and innovation in ![]() Research![]() FEMSA Biotechnology Center (left) is the leading source of patent applications among its research centers[74] In 2008 the institute was the leading patent applicant among Mexican universities[75] and generated three times as many international patents as its closest competitors.[76] Although some of the founding members of its faculty were prominent researchers (first rector San Antonio, Texas —one of the oldest and largest independent, nonprofit, applied research and development organizations in the United States.[77]
Notwithstanding some reputable achievements, throughout most of the 20th century its research activities —normally financed independently or under private sponsorship— were rather scarce in comparison to public universities such as the National Polytechnic Institute, whose budgets make up to 30% of the federal spending in higher education and, as such, are heavily financed by the government through the federal budget.[78]
Despite its inherent difficulties to secure research funds in a Mainz Institute of Microtechnology of Germany (IMM), the first center of chemical micro process engineering in Latin America.[85]
Additionally, the Institute developed a researcher-friendly brain drain. The scheme, in which the researcher may receive up to 30% of the patent licensing income,[86] works in combination with its internal MXN$ 100,000 Rómulo Garza Prize and its national MXN$ 200,000 Luis Elizondo Prize and has allowed it to become the leading patent applicant among Mexican universities since 2006.[87]
Student lifeCollegiate Championship in Mexico from 1998 to 2008[88] Student life, traditions and activities vary among campuses. Generally speaking, student involvement is encouraged by the local campus through an office of student affairs and the Department of Leadership and Student Formation (LiFE), which supervises most of the student groups, sports teams, regional associations and its student federation (FETEC). The Institute goes to great lengths to provide scholarships to those in need, awarding partial financial assistance to 49% of its student population. The number of international students vary notably among campuses. As of December 2017[update], 4,714 foreign students were studying in one of its campuses while 10,618 Tech students were taking courses in a foreign university.[3] Athletics
![]() Tec has a good record in college athletics, picking up over 18% of the medals at the 2007 national collegiate competition (Universiada) Although there are local adaptations, since 1945 the system-wide sports mascot is the ram (borrego salvaje), traditionally embodied in a male bighorn sheep. A somewhat popular urban legend states that the mascot was chosen by the American football team on its way to a match, after spotting a male sheep on the road. According to the official sources, however, the mascot was chosen during an official contest held by students in the mid-1940s.[14] Notable peopleFrom December 2006 to January 2009 both the Kelloggs' CEO Carlos Gutiérrez[103] and Gerardo Ruiz Mateos[104]) were Tech alumni. Other businesspeople include Cemex' CEO Lorenzo Zambrano,[105] FEMSA's CEO José Antonio Fernández,[106] Grupo Salinas' CEO Ricardo Salinas Pliego,[107] film producer and activist Max Appedole, and Casa Cuervo's CEO Juan Beckman.[108]
In science and technology, Computer Science.[112]
At least two late presidential candidates and democracy activists, Puebla.[113]
As for staff and faculty, at least two rectors or directors of different universities have been lecturers or members of the staff at the institute. The National Council for Science and Technology and a former rector of CIDE. In addition, the Ex-Rector Rafael Rangel Sostmann is member of the External Advisory Council of the World Bank Institute .
See also
NotesReferences
External linksWikimedia Commons has media related to ITESM. |