Campeche - Education

Education

The average number of years of schooling for those over age 15 is 8.5, which means that most finish middle school. This is slightly under the national average of 8.6. Over 55% finish primary school and over 35% finish a level over high school, either in technical training or university. The state has over 1800 schools from preschool to university level. These include seventeen teachers’ colleges and twenty eight other institutions of higher education.

The first educational institution in the state was located in the former monastery of San José in the city of Campeche, founded by the Jesuits in 1756 called the Colegio Clerical de San José. In 1823, its name was changed to the Colegio Clerical de San Miguel de Estrada. After the Reform Laws closed the monastery, The Instituto Campechano was established in 1859 by then governor Pablo Garcia in the same building. The Institute operated until the mid-20th century when it was replaced by the University of Campeche, which was initially housed at the Institute.

The Universidad Autónoma de Campeche was founded in 1957 by the state to systematize higher education in the state as its first major university. The institution operated out of several buildings until the mid 1960s, when the Ciudad Universitaria campus was built, and named the Universidad del Sudeste. This name was changed to the current one in 1989. The university offers twenty three bachelor’s degrees, and eight graduate degrees.

The Instituto Tecnológico de Campeche was founded in 1976 as the Instituto Tecnológico Regional de Campeche as part of a nationwide system of technical colleges with only two majors. The college gained its own campus in 1978 and its current name was adopted in the 1980s.