• 1910


• 1920


• 1930


• 1940


• 1950


• 1960


• 1970


• 1980


• 1990

The project was approved and the National University of Mexico was solemnly inaugurated on September 22nd. The universities of Salamanca, Paris and Berkeley were its "godmothers."

Joaquín Eguía y Lis was the first president. From that moment onwards, the teachers and students working at the above-mentioned national schools became members of the University. The old guard of orthodox positivism repudiated the

University's investiture. Agustín Aragón and Horacio Barreda attacked it in Positivist Magazine because, according to them, it threatened national progress.

They argued that this kind of institution belonged to the metaphysical stage of human development, and Mexico had already surpassed that phase. The young Antonio Caso, who was University Secretary and president of the Athenaeum of Youth (an association that opposed positivism and many of whose members would later make outstanding contributions to the University), defended the institution.

The debate between Caso and Aragón allowed for an analysis on these two different stances on higher education