education

=**Education** =

Mexico City places a large emphasis on education as shown by the second oldest university in the Americas, the National Autonomous University of Mexico being established in 1551. From 1553 to 1867 the Roman Catholic Church controlled the university but today the school is a university that is open to the public. According to Elena Poniatowska's book //Mexico City// the university; in an attempt to legitimize themselves established independent and professional schools of medicine, engineering, law and architecture which now enables the university to proudly say that it offers a large range of programs in all academic fields. The university became free of the governments control in 1929 and a new campus was built in the 1950's and contains over 1,800 acres of land. The university contains the largest enrollment of any other university on the continent with 325,000 students currently enrolled. UNAM conducts over 50% of the countries scientific research and has branches of the university throughout Mexico that include research centers, observatories and satellite campuses. According to the Times Higher Education supplement in 2006 UNAM ranks 74th among the top 200 universities worldwide, making it the highest ranked Spanish speaking university in the world. The enormous campus is called the Ciudad Universitaria and was named a heritage site by the UNESCO in 2007. The curriculum for Mexican schools is run by the federal level Secretary of Public education.