For decades Mexican leaders and scholars as well as outside observers have spoken of a Mexican university system in crisis and when the government harshly suppressed a student movement in 1968, world attention focused on the turmoil that was endemic in university life. During the severe economic slump of the 1980s, the fundamental weaknesses of the Mexican economy were often attributed to failings of the university system. Using original quantitative data on the graduates of all Mexican universities in a dozen major professional fields since 1929, the author explores the nature of this purported "crisis" by examining a series of questions about the Mexican university systems, including: How have the changing policy priorities of the Mexican government affected the universities' education of professionals? How have the Mexican's economy needs for professionals shaped the functioning of the university system? This text is a Stanford University Press title, distributed and marketed by Cambridge University Press in all areas outside North America. 4