National College of Professional Technical Education


The National College of Professional Technical Education is a public high school in Mexico that focuses on technical training, evaluation and certification of labor competencies and technological services. It uses a competency-based model to evaluate its students, and offers various specializations.

History

Background

The National College of Technical Professional Education is a secondary level educational institution that is part of the National System of Technological Education. It was created by presidential decree in 1978 as a Decentralized Public Organization of the Federal Government, with its own legal personality and assets. Its main objective was oriented to the training of technical professionals, specifically graduates of secondary school. It was founded in 1978 by engineer and Mexican politician José Antonio Padilla Segura.

Conalep SPP

The Conalep SPP was a building located between the streets of Iturbide and Humboldt, in the historic center of Mexico City. On September 19, 1985, the building was destroyed by a 8.1 magnitude earthquake.
Classes normally started at 7 o'clock in the morning, so the students were already in class when the earthquake struck. Some data indicate that around 120 people in the building died and even more were unaccounted for. The building was literally split in two; the part that overlooked Humboldt Street stood and the part that overlooked Iturbide Street collapsed facing their respective streets.

Present

In 1993, the presidential decree was reformed to relax expectations regarding job training, inter-sectoral linkage, community support, and technological advice. In 1994, according to the needs of the country, the school adopted the Competency Standards Based Education scheme, initiating the reform of its educational model. In 1998, as a result of his experience in the development of training programs under the EBNC scheme, he undertook a project for the accreditation of schools as Centers for the Evaluation of Labor Competences with the purpose of promoting the evaluation of competences acquired throughout the year.
In 2003, a new Academic Reform was carried out, which included the methodology of Education and Training Based on Contextualized Competences was innovated.
It is currently a federalized institution, constituted by a central unit that does regulation and coordination; 30 State Colleges; a Decentralized Operation Unit in the Federal District; and the Representation of the State of Oaxaca. This structure makes possible the operation of services in 273 schools distributed in the main cities and industrial zones of the country and eight Technology Assistance and Services Centers.

Campuses

Conalep Ing. Bernardo Quintana Arrioja

Educative offer

Conalep's curriculum is made up of 48 careers grouped into seven occupational training areas, which are taught nationwide in 308 schools.
The institution offers different bachelor technical professional careers based on a competency scheme, through which graduates acquire the main knowledge and experience to integrate into the labor field. The course is completed in 3 years and at the time of graduation, a professional degree is awarded which endorses the student as a Bachelor Technical Professional, a professional certificate, and the certificate of higher secondary education.