page_title: Instituto Politécnico Nacional
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Instituto Politécnico Nacional / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Entrance to the Adolfo López Mateos Unit of the National Polytechnic Institute. Español: Entrada a la Unidad Adolfo López Mateos del Instituto Politécnico Nacional.
context_page_description: The National Polytechnic Institute of Mexico, abbreviated IPN, is one of the largest public universities in Mexico with 171,581 students at the high school, undergraduate and postgraduate levels. It is the second best university in Mexico in the technical and engineering domain according to the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2018. It was founded on 1 January 1936 during the administration of President Lázaro Cárdenas del Río in order to provide professional education to the most disadvantaged social classes in that period, a practice that is maintained because it is one of the few vocational schools in the world.
  The institute consists of 98 academic units offering 293 courses of study. It includes 78 technical careers, 80 undergraduate and 135 postgraduate programs. Its main campus, called 'Unidad Profesional Adolfo López Mateos' or 'Zacatenco', is on approximately 530 acres north of Mexico City.
  The IPN is based primarily in Mexico City and its suburbs, but with several research institutes and facilities distributed over 22 states.
context_section_description: The institute was founded on January 1, 1936 during the administration of President Lázaro Cárdenas in what had been previously known as the Ex hacienda Santo Tomás — a large estate initially owned by Spanish conqueror Hernán Cortés in the 16th century and donated by the federal government.
  Prominent astronomer Luis Enrique Erro, former revolutionary Juan de Dios Bátiz Paredes and former minister of education Narciso Bassols were among its initial promoters.
  During the administration of former director Alejo Peralta sufficient lands were given to IPN. Expropriated lands of Santa Maria Ticomán (213 ha) and San Pedro Zacatenco (43 ha) were used.
  The construction of what is now the Professional Unit "Adolfo López Mateos" (Zacatenco) began in 1958. In 1959, former President Adolfo López Mateos, the former minister of education Jaime Torres Bodet, and former director of IPN Eugenio Mendez Docurro, inaugurated the first four buildings of Zacatenco, which were occupied by the Superior School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (ESIME) and the Superior School of Engineering and Architecture (ESIA).
caption: Marquee at the main entrance of the Adolfo López Mateos campus
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot A400", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2010:02:19 10:06:36", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "196", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "180", "Thumbnail YResolution": "180", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "2548", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4435", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/200", "EXIF FNumber": "19/5", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2010:02:19 10:06:36", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2010:02:19 10:06:36", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "5", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "245/32", "EXIF ApertureValue": "123/32", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "123/32", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "189/32", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1600", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1200", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "1600", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "1200", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1860", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "64000/7", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "1200000/131", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}