The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM, by its acronym in Spanish) is a public, autonomous and secular institution, which substantive activities are teaching, research and cultural dissemination. In the academic world, it is renowned as a university of excellence and it is the most important cultural project of Mexico.

UNAM is one of the most ancient universities in the Americas, having as predecessor the “Real y Pontificia Universidad de México”, founded in 1551. It is considered the best university of Mexico and ranked among the most prestigious and largest in the Spanish-speaking world. It is also included in the top 50 worldwide in 14 fields of knowledge. Its main campus was declared by UNESCO as a Cultural Heritage site in 2007 and it has trained 3 Nobel prizes in Chemistry, Literature and Peace.

In the academic year 2019-2020, almost 360 thousand students were enrolled at UNAM of which 8.5% are graduate students, 60.4% undergraduate students and 30.9% high school students. 3,400 students took courses abroad and UNAM welcomed 8 thousand more students from the five continents. Its faculty is integrated by 41,332 scholars.

At UNAM there are taught 120 undergraduate degrees with 235 educative options. UNAM also has an open, distance and online university system. Furthermore, within its curricula there are also 41 graduate programs and 42 specialization programs integrated by 265 courses in the fields of Physic and Mathematical Sciences; Engineering; Biological, Chemistry and Health Sciences; Social Sciences Humanities and Arts.

The 30% of Mexico’s scientific research is performed at UNAM.

Regarding cultural dissemination, UNAM has its own radio and television stations, 26 museums, 18 historical sites, a cinematographic school (the oldest in Latin America), symphonic orchestras, as well as 134 libraries with almost 7 million books. It is the main university press in Latin America with an average rate of 6 books published daily.

Nationwide, UNAM has presence in practically the 32 states that conform the country. Concerning international academic cooperation, it has 92 new agreements with High Education Institutions in the 5 continents in 2019. Moreover, it has 14 representative offices overseas in 9 countries: Canada, China, Costa Rica, Germany, South Africa, Spain, France, United States (5 offices), and United Kingdom.

Particularly with China, UNAM has signed 48 agreements with 19 prestigious universities and 2 national research centers.

In regards with its headquarters in China, created in collaboration with Beijing Foreign Studies University, from 2012 to the first semester of 2020, it has organized 519 academic and cultural events that have benefited almost 120,000 people, both from Mexico and China, from which 70% have been students and scholars, and 30% public in general.