Morelia - Education

Education

During the colonial period the city had four major educational institutions, the Colegio Seminario Tridentino, the Colegio de San Nicolás, the Colegio de los Jesuitas and the Colegio de las Rosas.

The state university, the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, is the oldest university in the Americas, which has its origins in the college founded in 1540 by Vasco de Quiroga in Pátzcuaro, the Colegio de San Nicolás Obispo. This school was originally founded to train priests and missionaries for work in Michoacán. The school gained a royal seal and patronage in 1543. In 1566, colonial religious authorities took over the school and in 1574, academics here were under the jurisdiction of the Jesuits. With the episcopal seat changed to Valladolid, the school moved also in 1580 and was fused with the already existing Colegio de San Miguel Guayangareo. The school was reformed in the 17th century and its curriculum was redesigned in the 18th to include courses in philosophy, religious law, civil law and other subjects. At the beginning the 19th century, the school became one of New Spain’s main centers of learning and academia, producing scholars such as a Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, José Ma. Morelos, José Sixto Verduzco, José María. Izazaga and Ignacio López Rayón, most of whom would have a role in the upcoming Mexican War of Independence. The school closed during the war but was reopened in 1847 with the name Primitivo y Nacional Colegio de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, focusing more on secular studies such as chemistry, physics, mathematics, biology, etc. based on the European university model.

After the Mexican Revolution, the school was reorganized and renamed again to the Universidad Michocana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo in 1917, which consolidated a number of other schools and disciplines into the new organization.

Nowadays, the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo is the most important university in the state of Michoacán. It has been rated also as one of the Top 10 best public universities in Mexico. The university has recently expanded to other smaller cities in the state other than Morelia, such as Uruapan, Apatzingán and Lazaro Cárdenas. In 2011, according to the INEGI census, the university had 55,546 regular students.

Other universities in the city include Instituto Tecnológico de Morelia (ITM), Universidad Tecnológica de Morelia (UTM), Instituto Michoacano de Ciencias de la Educación, Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo del Estado de Michoacán (CIDEM), UNAM Campus Morelia, Instituo de Estudios Superiores de la Comunicación (IESCAC), Universidad Pedagógica Nacional, Conservatorio de las Rosas, Universidad Vasco de Quiroga, Universidad Latina de America, Universidad La Salle Morelia, Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey- Campus Morelia ITESM, Universidad Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and many other different private universities.