Mexico, Competence, Titles - understand-culture

The Justice’s Thesis

In late 2022, Yasmín Esquivel, a justice of Mexico’s Supreme Court, was accused of having plagiarized her undergraduate thesis. In January 2023, the UNAM’s legal office wrote that the university “carece de una norma jurídica que le permita expresamente retirar, cancelar o revocar los títulos académicos que otorga” (lacks a legal rule that expressly allows it to withdraw, cancel or revoke the academic titles it grants).

The dispute went to the courts. In June 2023, a judge ruled that Esquivel was the only author of the thesis. The UNAM answered that the ruling did not bind the university. In August 2024, the Federal Court of Administrative Justice ruled that the UNAM could not sanction her.

The President’s Thesis

In August 2016, the news site Aristegui Noticias reported that President Enrique Peña Nieto had plagiarized “al menos 197 párrafos, de un total de 682, en su tesis presentada en 1991” (at least 197 paragraphs, out of a total of 682, in his thesis presented in 1991). He had presented the thesis at the Universidad Panamericana.

Abbreviated Titles

The style manual of Mexico’s National Electoral Institute (INE) sets a rule for titles: “Los tratamientos se escriben abreviados, con inicial mayúscula, cuando acompañan al nombre” (Titles are written abbreviated, with a capital initial, when they accompany the name). Its examples are “Dr. Gustavo González Ortiz,” “Mtra. María Rosa Madrigal Hernández” and “Ing. Rodolfo Contreras Martínez.” Its examples of titles written out in full are in lowercase, as in “licenciado Armando Contreras.”

Graduates Without a Title

In 2025, the FES Aragón, a campus of the UNAM, created a commemorative program to help former students obtain their professional title. It is open to “egresados de la UNAM con todos sus créditos y más de diez años de haber concluido la carrera” (UNAM graduates with all their credits and more than ten years since finishing their degree).

According to Xataka México, “más de 5,000 personas solicitaron ingresar” (more than 5,000 people applied to enter). The first group had 1,110 graduates. A second group of about 1,000 was then opened.

Licenciado

On December 1, 1946, Miguel Alemán Valdés became president of Mexico. He was a civilian and a law graduate of UNAM. According to México Desconocido, official protocol used his academic degree “como título de su investidura” (as the title of his office).

Many politicians then began to use licenciado as a title of prestige. Mi licenciado became “sinónimo de poder” (a synonym for power) in politics, the law and the bureaucracy. From there the use spread to the rest of society.

Titles Instead of Names

In Mexico, a university degree becomes a form of address. Licenciado or licenciada is used for “anyone who has a degree in any number of fields,” one guide explains. Engineers are addressed as ingeniero or ingeniera, and teachers, university professors included, as maestro or maestra. Another guide notes that calling someone simply Ingeniero is “completely acceptable” even when the speaker knows the person’s first name.

Usurping a Profession

Article 250 of Mexico’s Federal Penal Code punishes anyone who claims the standing of a professional without the legal title. The penalty is one to six years in prison and a fine.

The title rests on the cédula profesional, which the Ministry of Public Education issues through its Directorate General of Professions. The cédula is required in fields such as health, law, architecture and engineering.