The journey of the truth: The Tec of Misantla 1994-2014

By José Alberto Gaytán García*

Dear readers, in September of 1994, the Technology of Misantla began operations with 11 teachers and 17 administrative employees. Then, the Technology did not have its own facilities. Classes began at the House of Culture and later at the School of Bachelors “Alfonso Reyes” Misantla. The initial enrollment was 166 students in two careers, industrial engineering and Bachelor of computerscience. This year will be twenty years since that beginning. It has been a very difficult journey that this noble technology has crossed to reach the first station of its final destination, the frontier of knowledge.

So, I have the great honor to report on behalf of our students, faculty, administrative staff and managers, as ITSM reaches twenty years after this first stop.

I commented that we began operations in borrowed facilities. Thankfully, last year, we finally managed to deed the property where the technology operates today. Thanks to that, Tec assets are valued at 150 million pesos; we have eight professional careers, 2143 students and a staff of 200 employees. In twenty years, we have graduated 2500 engineers and Bachelors of computer science, most of them working successfully in the professional market of the country.

Half of the current students have scholarships, in other words, one out of every two Tec students receives one or more of the 15 federal, state and private scholarships that we offer. The total revenue in scholarships exceeds 12 million pesos a year.

The careers at Tec have quality national recognition. We have a program of international mobility where more than 200 students participate, who has visas to travel and study in the United States and other countries.

We have two master’s degrees in industrial engineering and computer systems, with national recognition of postgraduate quality, for that reason, graduate students receive a monthly stipend of nine thousand pesos. We have 100 students and we are the first technology that teaches MBA out of state.

We are champions in mathematics, the contest is called COESMA. This year we will fight with everything to retain the title, for which we will once again have to beat 30 tecs and universities, including UV.

One of the most valuable assets the technology has is undoubtedly its teaching staff. 40 percent have master’s degrees; we have 12 doctors with international experience. For example, Dr. Arturo Cabrera, biochemical engineering, works with researchers from Harvard University and teachers Jose Luis Fernandez and Daniel Aguayo participate in a course in renewable energy offered by this prestigious university.

The challenges for the next twenty years will be more difficult and complicated. Fortunately, in ITSM we know the educational model for training students and teachers traveling into the year 2034. I am referring to an educational model of highest quality, in which, there will be only doctoral-level students since by then engineering and master’s degree will have disappeared or soon will be worthless degrees. We will only graduate doctors; these doctors of Tec will have a strong multicultural, multidisciplinary and multilingual wide-based training.

In the year 2034, we have to make a mandatory stop to greet the members of the board who founded the Technology of Misantla. I am referring to Ernesto Sanchez Lopez, Rafael Alarcon Rodriguez, Jeronimo Gonzalez and Perez, Nereo Gonzalez and Perez and David Sanchez Hernandez. Yes these people had vision, thank you very much.

It is also fair to thank everyone else who has helped the technology in many ways. Similarly, we must recognize the valuable work of the directors that preceded me in my office. I am referring to Eldisa Cuevas Izaguirre, who was the first in charge of management, and then they appointed the first director Jaime Sanchez Galindo and later Ismael Martinez Arroyo, Angel Guisar Conde, Eugenio Limón Viveros, Jose Eduardo Fajardo Higuera and Jesus Israel Lara Villegas.

The journey of the truth The Tec of Misantla 1994-2014

The astronaut of Mexican origin, Dr. Jose Hernandez, one of the speakers participating in the ITSM academic conference 2014, notes with great truth in his presentations that:

“Success is not born, it is built”, however, we who work in this noble technology, are proud to build daily the success of one of the best higher education projects, Misantla Tech. CONGRATULATIONS.

jalbertogaytangarcia@gmail.com
A106R6/17

Sígueme en:

Acerca del autor

José Alberto Gaytan

José Alberto Gaytán García ha escrito artículos y ensayos de corte académico en diarios y revistas de México y de los Estados Unidos; ha participado en importantes proyectos académicos e impartido conferencias sobre temas de historia, tecnología y educación en el marco de las relaciones entre México y los Estados Unidos, tema en el cual realizó sus estudios de doctorado en The Graduate School of Internacional Studies de la Universidad de Miami.