20 facts you might not know about Tec de Monterrey as it turns 80

Tecnológico de Monterrey celebrates its 80th anniversary this September 6.

CONECTA presents some facts about its history:

 

1. The founder of Tec de Monterrey: Don Eugenio Garza Sada.

A group of businessmen led by Eugenio Garza Sada founded the institution in 1943.

Garza Sada was convinced that “education can achieve anything.”

He studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and wanted to create an educational institute of that quality in Mexico.

 

2. It all started with 350 students

The first place to house the Tec was a large house located on Abasolo Street in downtown Monterrey, Nuevo Leon.

It started with 350 students and 14 full-time professors. Today, 80 years later, the Tec has more than 90,000 students.

 

 

3. The Tec’s early degrees

The Tec started offering degrees in two areas: the School of Industrial Engineering and the School of Accounting Studies.

The first included both high school and industrial engineering with majors in chemistry, electricity, mechanics, and management.

In the second, the degrees of private or banking accountancy, banking, and industrial or public engineering were offered, as well as the business administration degree.
 

 

4. The first institution to implement semesters

The Tec was the first institution in Mexico to implement semesters in education, in contrast with the so-called school year.

 

5. The first university campus in Mexico

In 1947, four years after the Tec was founded, its university campus was inaugurated in the south of the city.

Now known as the Tec’s Monterrey campus, it was the first campus in Mexico and one of the first in Latin America.

 

6. Football since the beginning

Tec de Monterrey’s first football team was established in 1945, just two years after its foundation.

The first match would start the rivalry with the team of the Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon (UANL), an institution that had started its activities in 1933.

 

7. The ram as a mascot

Tec de Monterrey’s mascot, the ram, was established following a survey completed by students in 1945.

The story on which the mascot’s adoption was based told of an occasion when the football players spotted a sheep in a stream of the Santa Catarina River on their way to a game.

Teus is the name of the official Tec de Monterrey mascot.

 

8. The Tec has a historic mural: “The Triumph of Culture”

In 1954, the mural, “The Triumph of Culture” painted by Jorge González Camarena, was inaugurated in the Tec’s current Rector’s Building (which used to be the library).

This Tec Mural is a stone carving that represents the struggle and victory of Quetzalcoatl over Tezcatlipoca, as well as the daily triumph of civilization and culture over the dark forces of stagnation and apathy.

Video (in spanish):

 

9. The first computer

In 1963, the Tec installed its first computer at the university, an IBM 1620 desktop.

In the same year, the Electronic Computing Center was also created, where students received instruction in computer programming.

 

10. Guaymas, the Tec’s first location outside of Monterrey

In 1967, the Tec began its expansion outside Monterrey, and it was in Guaymas, Sonora, where the first external campus was located.

There is no longer a campus in Guaymas, although the Tec has campuses in Hermosillo and Ciudad Obregón and is present in 32 cities and 20 states in Mexico.

 

11. Degrees with gender acknowledgement since 1978

In 1978, the Tec was the first university in Mexico to change women’s academic degrees to be written in the feminine form.

 

12. Tec hospitals and an integrated health system

 Tec de Monterrey has an integrated health system with a medical, academic, and research approach.

It includes two hospitals in the Monterrey metropolitan area: Zambrano Hellion Medical Center and San José Hospital.

 

13. The first Internet connection in Mexico

In 1988, Tec de Monterrey was the first to connect to the Internet in Mexico and Latin America.

Previously, in 1986, the Tec had also connected to the BITNET network, considered the precursor of the Internet.

 

14. The first digital university library in Mexico

In the 1990s, the Tec established the first digital library in a university in the country.

Currently, the collection has almost two million volumes of information resources.

 

15. The creation of Tecmilenio

In 2002, with the support of Tec de Monterrey, the Tecmilenio University was also created.

It was founded with a mission to boost employability and has now also become the world’s first positive university, named this way after Martin Selligman, the renowned father of positive psychology.

 

16. TEC21 Educational Model: a new educational model

The Tec has transformed its educational model, whose distinctive features include the idea that most of the learning should be based on experiential challenges in the real world.

In 2014, it began implementing elements of the model and in 2019 it was 100 percent implemented.

17. The Leaders of Tomorrow program

In 2013, Tec launched its Leaders of Tomorrow program, which offers 100% scholarships to young leaders who have been identified in their communities.

After 10 years of the program, around 1,700 young people have entered the program, half of them now university graduates.

18. Hologram professors and the Tec’s educational metaverse

Just as the Tec innovated with television, satellite, and online classes, the institution has continued to test educational technologies.

In 2018, the first formal class was held at Tec de Monterrey with holographic projection of professors.

In 2022, the first full class was held in the Tec’s own “educational metaverse,” the Tec Virtual Campus, which allows teaching and learning in a 3D environment.

 

19. Rankings

The Tec de Monterrey has moved up through the international university rankings.

According to QS Rankings, the Tec is currently in the Top 200 overall universities worldwide and the Top 40 private universities.

Also, according to the Times Higher Education LATAM Rankings, it’s the number 1 university in Mexico and number 4 in Latin America.

20. 80th anniversary

This September 6, 2023, the Tec will celebrate 80 years since opening its doors.

 

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