Universidad de las Américas, A.C.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Universidad de las Américas, A.C. is a university located at Mexico City, formed by a dissident group from Universidad de las Américas.

Universidad de las Américas was founded with the name of Mexico City College in 1940 by Dr. Henry L. Cain and Dr. Paul V. Murray. In the 1960s it changed its name to University of the Americas, and a few years latter to its Spanish translation, Universidad de las Américas. With aid from the Inter-American Development Bank and other organizations, it was splitted in two, one in Mexico City's facility in the colonia Roma (Roma county) and into a new and bigger campus in a suburb city of Puebla, Puebla in the early 1970s. In 1984-1985 a dissident group of scholars renounced to the College Board and moved to the old facilities at Mexico City. Both institutions kept the same short name, however, legally, they are registered under two different names: Universidad de las Américas, A.C. (the institution now located at the old facilities in Mexico City), and Fundación Universidad de las Américas, Puebla (the institution at Puebla).

Universidad de las Américas, A.C., limited by the size of the facilities, has not been able to grow, and as of 2005 only offers seven undergraduate programs (most of them within the field of Social Sciences), and 4 master's programs. Instead that, is ranked 1st in Psychology in all over Mexico City, also is the most secure private school in the city, according to newspaper Reforma. Given the fact that both share the name, there is confusion as to which of the two universities has kept the accreditation of the Southern Association of Schools and Colleges, SACS, of the United States. As of 2006 both institution at Mexico City and at Puebla have the accreditation. When taking the GRE or SAT, if the student decides to send the scores to "Universidad de las Américas" in Mexico, they will be sent to the institution at Mexico City.