CLOSE COMPARISON BETWEEN THE RESULTS OF TWO BASIC SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING DIVISIONS OF THE MEXICAN UAM

In this paper we compared some indicators for the two Basic Science and Engineering Divisions of the campuses of Azcapotzalco and Iztapalapa of the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM) [1]. The objective is to analyze the differences in order to define what experiences could be shared between them to improve. We obtained the data mostly from the annual activity reports of the UAM of several years, and made some statistical analysis. We have found that there are important differences in some indicators despite that both divisions started classes in 1974 and they were constructed to have a similar undergraduate enrollment. For example, in the year of 2014 the Basic Sciences and Engineering Division of Azcapotzalco (CBI-A) had an undergraduate enrollment of 8142 students while the Basic Sciences and Engineering Division of Iztapalapa (CBI-I) had 4292 students. The number of freshmen and of those students who graduate are smaller in CBI-I although the number of full time professors with tenure are more or less the same in both divisions. Despite that there are much less students in CBI-I it takes longer for them to graduate, in CBI-I it takes in average 7 years to graduate in the four year careers and in CBI-A about three months less. On the other hand, in the year of 2014 CBI-I obtained six times more funding from external sources than CBI-A. CBI-A increased the number of freshmen from the year 2007 to the year 2010 by 20% (296 students) and from the year 2010 to the year 2014 decreased it by 40% (690 students), while CBI-I slightly increased the number of freshmen in those years. We make some recommendations for the UAM based on the differences of the indicators.

[1] Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana. www.uam.mx