Widening the participation of indigenous people in Mexican higher education: results, challenges and perspectives

Resumo

The purpose of this essay is to provide an overview and discuss the results and current situation of the principal programmes and actions taken in Mexico in the last sixteen years to foster social inclusion in higher education, with particular reference to the situation of the indigenous population and some observations on the postgraduate level. I contend that despite a wide range of problems that affect each of such programmes, taken together these actions have laid the groundwork for better informed and effective responses for the next phases of development of similar programmes. The first part of the article addresses the relevance of the subject and our current understanding of it; the second section illustrates the lack of access of the indigenous population to higher education and summarizes the principal programmes and actions that have so far been taken to deal with this situation; the third and final part discusses the progress that has been made and reflects on some important challenges for the years ahead.