Mexico City dominates the country's cultural life with a disproportionate number of universities, museums, and cultural institutions. One-third of Mexico's institutions of higher learning are located in the capital, including its largest and most prestigious universities. Most people who are educated in the capital remain there because universities provide the primary source of employment for cultural leaders in Mexico.
The dominant educational institution is the National Autonomous University of Mexico, which moved to its present site, known as University City, in 1952. Its rapid rise in enrollment, from 40,000 in 1960 to 135,000 in the mid-1990s, reflects both the increase in the city's population and the rising aspirations of Mexicans. To accommodate the soaring student enrollments of the 1970s, the government created the Metropolitan Autonomous University, the largest university system in the country. It provides a series of large campuses in various areas of the city, including working-class neighborhoods. These campuses have increased access to higher education among lower-income social groups.
Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001
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