Principle Characteristics of this University Model
4. Universidad del Mar
results from previous years; in the tops places in Business Science in the same CENEVAL exams.
It is also fair to mention that in the last twenty years the City of Hua- juapan de Leon has gone through a notable positive transformation.
One of the first decisions was for the Universidad del Mar to spe- cialize in maritime themes to which I added tourism which represents a basic activity for the coast of Oaxaca and the entire state. Initially only two bachelor degree programmes were offered: Marine Biology and Tourist Administration. Afterwards, the bachelor degree programs Aquaculture, Marine Biology, Phishing Engineering, Maritime Sciences, Oceanography and Environmental Engineering were added. Later on the Postgraduate Division was created with a Master’s and PhD in Marine Ecology to which would be added a Master’s in Environmental Science, subdivided in two specializations, Environmental Chemistry and Environmental Engineering. Other bachelor degree programs and masters would be added in later years.
The choice of UMAR’s field of work, as with all the other universities, responded to the need to specialize each unit of the campus to achieve economies of scale that render their operation profitable, allowing the exchange of teachers between bachelor degree programs and the use of the same instruments for teaching and research. But in the case of UMAR the specialization that it was given turned out to be indispensa- ble because of the desire to promote the emergence of a sea culture, as it is inconceivable that a country as geographically oceanic as Mexico has lived and continues living with its back to the sea.109
109 It is enough to see the statistics: the total area of oceans in Mexico is 2,946,825 square kilometers, including 231,813 km of ocean territories and 2,715,012 km of the exclusive economic zone, while the coasts themselves have a length of 11,122 km, of which 650 km belong to Oaxaca. To that we have to add about 1,000 islands, with another 5,800 square kilometers, the extraordinary loca- tion of Mexico between the northern and southern hemispheres and between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, and the land configuration, with the Isthmus of Tehuantepec as a crossroads between both oceans. This data should be enough to explain the rationale of the Universidad del Mar in Oaxaca.
To organize the research activities four institutes were created: the Resources Institute, which has been assigned the function of sys- tematically creating an inventory of marine and costal resources of Oaxaca; the Institute for Industries, to study and propose methods for the productive use of these resources; and the Ecology Institute, whose mission is to complete the necessary studies to oversee that the use of Oaxaca’s marine and costal resources is sustainable and does not involve environmental damage. Furthermore, to create groups of field professors from the social sciences, the Institute of Social Science and Humanities was also established. There are now more research insti- tutes at the other campuses of Puerto Escondido and Huatulco.
At the end of spring 1992, the Universidad del Mar (UMAR) be- gan academic activities, with introductory courses for a small group of students, and on August 21 it was officially inaugurated by the Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, along with the oaxacan Governor Heladio Ramírez and the Secretary of Education Ernesto Zedillo. A few years later, Zedillo would go on to become president of Mexico and would come back to UMAR in October 1997 under the tragic circumstances of the partial destruction of UMAR facilities in Puerto Angel due to Hurricane Paulina, and, a few weeks later, Hurricane Rick. After just two months of frantic night and day work we succeeded in entirely rebuilding the University.
Work began in less-than-ideal conditions, with a small number of faculty and no laboratories. A classroom was used as a library and there was a small auditorium that allowed us to celebrate sporadic academic and cultural activities that gave a certain air of solemnity to our work.
University of La Cañada. Partial view from the air.
University of the Istmus, Tehuantepec Campus. Institute of Energy and Laboratory for Research on Energy.
University of Sierra Sur. Partial view.
University of Sierra Juárez. Partial view.
The mandate for Governor Heladio Ramírez came to a close, three months after the official inauguration, but the following governors, Diódoro Carrasco, José Murat, and Ulises Ruíz, continued supporting the UMAR as they had the UTM. However, the shortage of available economic resources in Oaxaca made it very difficult for the university to function, along with problems arising from the opposition of a number of professors, who did not like a university model that required them to take their functions seriously. This problem had also been present at UTM as well. It was difficult to impose on faculty coming from less de- manding institutions the need to understand that the sacrifices of the Mexican community to create and maintain these types of institutions should be met with responsibility and, if necessary, with sacrifice.
In spite of this, UMAR grew rapidly. The number of bachelor de- gree programs offered grew, along with a corresponding number of professors, while maintaining, as it had been in the UTM, a strict control of the expansion of the administrative and operative person- nel. Laboratories, for both teaching and research, were opened and equipped. A full-size library and new auditorium were built, along with a sports field, a 25-meter swimming pool, a gymnasium, a graduate school building, and an administrative building. Donations were received, including a boat for oceanography and fisheries re- search, and a bookstore was opened in downtown Pochutla. The campus, originally barely more than four hectares, grew with the purchases and donations, and now is eight hectares.
On the academic side, the quality of teaching improved signifi- cantly, as reflected in the numerous awards given to UMAR profes- sors and students over the years.
In the year 2000, UMAR added two new campuses, in Puerto Escondido and Huatulco, and assigned specializations designated a bit arbitrarily as Earth Sciences in the first case and Social Sciences and Humanities in the second.
In Puerto Escondido, the bachelor degree programs of Forest Engineering, Biology, Zoology and Informatics are offered, along with a Master in Livestock Production, a Master in Genomics and a Genetics Institute, whose principle mission is the inventory and conservation of genetic resources of this part of the country, along with organization of research in this field of study.
In Huatulco, which had begun with bachelor degree pro- grams in Tourism Administration –transferred from Puerto Angel–
and International Relations, two bachelor degree programs, in Communication Sciences and Economics were added, and, since 2009, a Master of International Relations, with a minor in Environmental Studies. In 2010 two new masters were also added:
International Relations with a minor in International Criminal Law, and Tourism Marketing.
The number of research institutes was also increased with the in- stitutes of International Relations, Institute of Tourism and Institute of Communications.
The Tourism Administration bachelors degree, according to the in- stitutional evaluation of CENEVAL, is among the best in the country.
UMAR has carried out numerous activities of social interest, such as the promotion of national and international events, which contribute to an increase in the arrival of tourists to the Oaxacan coast; the opening of other general bookstores in downtown Puerto
Escondido and Huatulco, in addition to Pochutla; the creation of the Chepilme (Pochutla) and Puerto Escondido botanic gardens and the experimental field in Bajos de Chila, in which, among other activi- ties, there is an iguana farm for the research and conservation of the species. In this same field, the Zoology students and scholars have a space for their field work, especially raising cattle, swines, ostriches and sheep, There is also a research laboratory. And a greenhouse for forestry experiments and reforestation projects.
In cooperation with state and federal bodies, along with pri- vate businesses, various projects are developed that, in addition to contributing to the economic development of the country, col- lect resources for the university, which allows it to have first-rate laboratories, including the Environmental Engineering laboratory in Puerto Angel.
Since 2009 UMAR has a fourth campus in the City of Oaxaca, with a Hotel School and a training center.