Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México

The Mexican education system is divided into the following levels: early childhood education [Educación Inicial], basic education [Educación Básica], which includes pre-school [Preescolar], primary school [Primaria] and secondary school [Secundaria], higher secondary education [Educación Media Superior], higher education [Educación Superior] and vocational training courses [Capacitación para y en el trabajo] (see section 3.4). Higher secondary education and higher education are offered in three modalities: face-to-face [escolarizada], distance [no escolarizada] (see section 3.4.8) and mixed [mixta].

Right to education and compulsory education

The right to education is enshrined in Article 3 of the Mexican Constitution [Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos]. Provinces, cities and municipalities are responsible for providing sufficient basic and secondary education. It is provided free of charge by public schools. Compulsory education in Mexico includes pre-school, which is normally attended by children between the ages of three and five, primary school for 

children between the ages of six and eleven, and secondary school for children between the ages of twelve and 14. Pre-school was only included as a compulsory part as of the 2008/2009 school year. Furthermore, in February 2012, an amendment was made to Articles 3 and 31 of the Constitution, which declare Higher Intermediate Education compulsory in addition to basic education. This extension is to be implemented nationwide by 2022 (cf. Presidencia de la República 2012; Ministry of the Interior [Secretaría de Gobernación, SEGOB] 2012).

School attendance

If we look at the careers of a cohort of 100 pupils who could have graduated in 2016 according to their age, the following picture emerges: all 100 pupils started primary education in the 1999/2000 school year. Only 90 of them also completed it five years later. Of these, 85 continued their school career in the following school year. Only 67 completed lower secondary education two years later. Of these 67 graduates, seven opted for vocational training, which was completed by three. 58 of the 67 graduates decided to pursue the baccalaureate, of which 37 successfully completed it. 31 began a course of study, which 22 completed in the 2015/2016 school year.

Even if this career analysis does not provide any differentiated statements on how many pupils only temporarily drop out of the school system or end a school form outside the regular time frame, it does give a good impression of the participation in various educational offers (cf. SEP 2016b, p. 11).

If one looks at the proportion of pupils and students who were enrolled in an education programme of the national education system over time (Table 21 and Table 22), it emerges that more pupils have taken advantage of compulsory schooling. For example, in 1990 only 57.1 per cent of five-year-old pupils were enrolled in an educational measure; in 2010 the figure was 87.3 per cent.

Basic education is preceded by an educational care system that is available for children from the 43rd day after birth until they reach pre-school age. The focus here is on promoting the motor, social and cognitive skills of young children, as well as providing targeted support for the educational efforts of parents. The responsible institutions are controlled either at the federal or local level. Three different design variants can be distinguished: The classical one offers a care service where children are accommodated for a full or half day and receive comprehensive care. In many more rural areas, such facilities are hardly available or too far away. Therefore, day care centres offer the possibility to care for children for a few hours in close consultation with the parents. This service is usually provided by volunteers with the appropriate qualifications and registration. The third option opens up targeted support services to teach parents how to deal with their children and how to raise them. This takes place, for example, in the form of courses lasting several months. Such an offer aims to help parents in particular who are perhaps overwhelmed with the upbringing of their children due to their young age or their precarious financial situation (cf. SEP 2014a).

Basic education is based on the 2011 Education Plan [Plan de Estudios 2011 Educación Básica], which resulted from the Comprehensive Reform of Basic Education [Reforma Integral de la Educación Básica]. It includes curricula for pre-primary, primary and lower secondary education (Figure 4). These are divided into four subject areas: Language and communication, mathematical thinking, discovering and understanding the social and natural environment, and personality development and living together. The individual educational areas are in turn divided into different subjects. The promotion of digital competences is a component of all subjects.

Traditionally, teaching is teacher-centred. Memorisation, repetition and copying play an important role. In the latter, particular attention is paid to thoroughness. Therefore, there is usually little time available for developing problem-solving skills and independent work. This was changed within the framework of the above-mentioned reform. A competence profile for graduates was drawn up and the curricula for the individual subjects were made competence-based.

subjects were made competency-based. These also contain an overview of expected learning activities as well as pedagogical guidelines.

Pre-school education/elementary education [Preescolar]

Pre-primary education is designed to help children between the ages of three and five grow and develop through educational work and play activities. The focus is on children gaining confidence in their ability to express themselves, developing a love of learning, beginning to develop their mathematical understanding, becoming accustomed to necessary rules of living together, etc. This care service is offered by both private and public institutions. There are different variants, which differ in particular in the intensity of the care services and their temporal scope. There are general preschools [generales] and, for children with indigenous roots, preescolares indígenas. The educational staff employed there are characterised by the fact that they speak the languages of the respective ethnic groups. Another option are the community courses [Cursos comunitarios]. These are aimed specifically at children and families in rural areas where there is no pre-school, but where there are more than 35 children of the appropriate age. In some cases, this offer is combined with the one for primary school children. Tutors who have attended an appropriate course act as caregivers or teachers. This is already possible for secondary school graduates and is therefore often covered by young people. This service is provided by the National Council for Educational Promotion [Consejo Nacional de Formento Educativo, CONAFE]. This is a decentralised unit that is subordinate to the SEP but acts independently (cf. SEP 2015).

In total, around 4.8 million children were enrolled in a preschool in the 2015/2016 school year. Of these, 88 per cent were registered in general preschools, 8.6 per cent attended preschools for children with indigenous roots and 3.4 per cent participated in cursos comunitarios. Nationwide, 230,781 teachers and tutors are employed in the 89,405 preschools (cf. SEP 2016b, p. 14). Although this educational offer is part of compulsory education, only 72.1 per cent of the children attended for more than three years (Table 25).

Primary education [Primaria]

This form of school education is spread over six school years and is the prerequisite for transition to lower secondary education. In the 2015/2016 school year, 14.3 million pupils attended primary education. 574,210 teachers were employed in 98,004 schools. 91.0 per cent of these schools were public (cf. SEP 2016b, p. 16).

This primary education is offered in three forms: General primary school [Primaria general] is the most important component and was attended by 93.5 percent of children in the 2015/2016 school year. There is much less demand for indigenous/bilingual primary school [Primaria indígena/bilingual]. Only 5.7 percent of the children took advantage of this offer. Due to their indigenous origin, they sometimes speak hardly any Spanish and are accordingly concerned with both maintaining their mother tongue and improving their Spanish skills. In rural areas with less than 100 inhabitants, community courses are also offered at primary school level (see also section 3.4.2.1), which are run by tutors. This type of school was attended by 0.8 per cent of the children (cf. SEP 2016b, p. 16). The general primary schools are divided into two groups: Schools with 30 hours per week, schools with extended instruction [Escuelas de jornada ampliada, JA] with 30 hours per week and half-day schools [Escuelas de medio tiempo, MT] with 22.5 hours per week.

During the six school years, pupils learn subjects such as Spanish, a foreign language (mostly English), mathematics, science, geography, art and civics/ethics. The latter subject is primarily dedicated to the formation of a national identity, the recognition of the country's cultural diversity, and political and democratic education (cf. SEP 2011, p. 71ff.).

Until the constitutional amendment in 2012, lower secondary education was the last level of basic education. It is divided into three different types of schools: general secondary schools [secundarias generales], vocational secondary schools [secundarias técnicas] and telesecundarias based on distance learning. There are also secondary schools for workers [secundarias para trabajadores]. In the 2015/2016 school year, about 6.8 million students attended lower secondary school. 408,577 teachers were employed in 38,885 schools. 91.3 per cent of these schools are public (cf. SEP 2015, p. 18).

51.5 per cent of pupils were enrolled in general secondary schools in 2015/2016. As in the primary sector, these are offered in three variants: Full-time schools with 45 hours per week, schools with extended teaching, also with 45 hours per week but a different distribution of subjects, and half-day schools with 35 hours per week (Table 26). For the latter, there is usually a morning and an afternoon variant available (cf. SEP 2011, p. 71ff.).

The tutorial (Table 26) is intended to contribute to a comprehensive education of the pupils and is especially designed to promote personal and social competences. Great emphasis is placed on reflection on one's own personality and interaction with classmates as well as with the school and social environment. In principle, all subject teachers who teach a class in a subject are available as tutors. Each tutor is responsible for developing a programme suitable for his or her group, focusing on a specific situation, need or challenge in the students' lives. To this end, groups are formed around the following focus areas: Interaction between pupils and dynamics in the school, the own learning process, living together in the classroom and in the school, and a project on life planning. Here, vocational orientation is to be thematised in a targeted way.

The vocationally oriented secondary schools place greater emphasis on vocationally related content (Table 27). 27.3 per cent of pupils from lower secondary level were enrolled in such a type of school in the 2015/2016 school year (cf. SEP 2016b, p. 18). The weekly working time in full-time schools here is 50 hours, whereby the workload for the vocationally oriented subjects must be at least eight hours (cf. SEP 2011, p. 71ff.).

Because of the additional workload due to the vocationally oriented subjects, vocational secondary schools are often offered as full-time variants. However, some schools also offer half-day classes with individually adapted subject distribution. Missed lessons due to the lower number of hours are then usually compensated for by a higher proportion of home work. The vocational subjects are divided into six vocational fields [campos tecnológicos]: Agriculture and Fishing, Food Processing, Production, Construction, Information Management and Communication, and Health, Service and Leisure. These are in turn divided into a total of 28 different programmes [programas de estudios]. For example, the vocational field of production includes the teaching topics of machines, tools and control systems or industrial design. The pupils deal with the target-oriented use of different technologies, learn to deal critically and responsibly with the development and evaluation of modern technologies, and carry out their own small projects. The respective offer of the schools depends on regional priorities (cf. SEP 2014c). The implementation of the teaching content and, in particular, the associated practical content depend on the equipment of the respective school. Pupils often decide to attend such a secondary school not because of the specific vocational preparation, but rather for pragmatic reasons such as proximity to their place of residence.

The telesecundarias have been offered since 1968 and are mainly aimed at children in rural areas where regular direct teaching cannot be offered due to a lack of teachers and schools. With the help of video sequences and internet-based applications, the pupils are to be prepared as well as possible for their entry into working life, even without personal supervision. 21.2 per cent of the pupils took part in this variant in the 2015/2016 school year (cf. SEP 2016b, p. 18).

Secondary level II has been part of compulsory education since February 2012 (see section 3.3.1). Here, students have several options: they can choose between two versions of the baccalaureate (general education or vocationally oriented) and vocational training. In addition, since 2013 it has been possible in some federal states to complete a dual variant of the vocationally oriented baccalaureate (see section 4.3.2). The transition to upper secondary 3. The education system at a glance 66

The transition to upper secondary education is usually preceded by a standardised test, which, however, is not uniform nationally. In some states, this test serves more of a diagnostic purpose; in others, the results of the entrance examinations determine possible participation in upper secondary education programmes or admission to the respective schools. As a result, often only the best students are allowed to take the general baccalaureate. For the others, the vocationally oriented baccalaureate or vocational training remains (cf. Roldán Vera 2015, p. 213).

In the 2015/2016 school year, about five million students attended upper secondary education. 62.1 per cent pursued the general baccalaureate, 36.5 per cent a vocational baccalaureate and 1.4 per cent opted for pure vocational training. 422,001 teachers were employed in this type of school in 20,383 schools. 81.4 percent of these schools are public (cf. SEP 2016b, p. 20).

At the time of the research, upper secondary education is the focus of a far-reaching reform, the Comprehensive Reform of Upper Secondary Education [Reforma Integral de la Educación Media Superior, RIEMS]. The aim of this reform is to raise and standardise the level of quality throughout the country (see also section 5.8.2). In the associated bases for the General Baccalaureate [Documento Base del Bachillerato General], constructivism is established as a didactic guideline and the high value placed on competence orientation and student action and interaction is emphasised. Up to now, teaching was strongly oriented towards the respective subject content, which was only interlinked to a small extent. Competence orientation should lead to better coordination. In June 2016, the new competence-oriented Abitur was already implemented in 2,114 schools with almost two million pupils. For the 2015/2016 school year, this corresponds to 40.1 per cent of the total number of students in upper secondary education (cf. Nonprofit Council for the Evaluation of Upper Secondary Education [Consejo para la Evaluación de la Educación del Tipo Medio Superior, COPEEMS] n.d.).

The curricular requirements are divided into the following three areas of competence and other school activities:

general competences [competencias genéricas],
competencies oriented to academic disciplines [competencias disciplinares], and
competencies oriented towards professional basics [competencias profesionales básicas].
Their promotion is distributed over individual modules and extends over a total of six semesters. The weekly workload should be between 29 and 35 school hours according to the specifications. General basic education consists of 31 modules in the areas of mathematics, natural sciences, social sciences, humanities 67 3.4 Brief characterisation of the different educational areas and school types

and communication. These take up about 65 per cent of the total teaching content. In addition, 18 science-oriented specialisations are available, on the basis of which the schools derive their specific offer against the background of local needs. From these, students choose eight modules in the fifth and sixth semesters, which make up about 13 per cent of the total curriculum. Basic vocational education is divided into 18 areas. These include, for example, administration, controlling, electronics and tourism. The respective subjects can be taken from the third semester onwards and account for 15 per cent of the total curriculum. Here, too, the schools can orient their offers to local needs. In addition, depending on the semester, two to four hours per week of other school activities in the areas of art and culture, sport and fitness, and career guidance are compulsory (cf. SEP 2016c).

Learning success assessments have also been modernised within the framework of the competency-based Abitur. Whereas in the past the examinations were mostly written examinations in the sense of a classical knowledge test, they are now to be more process-oriented. Teachers have instruments at their disposal, such as situation-oriented problems or project and portfolio work, which lead to the final evaluation of the individual competences.

Since the reform involves far-reaching changes which, among other things, introduce competence orientation as a completely new concept, it must be critically observed to what extent such reform contents will actually be implemented in daily teaching practice in the future. At the time of the research, many schools were still in the early stages of redesigning their teaching provision. The guidelines of the General Directorate for the General Baccalaureate [Dirección General del Bachillerato, DGB] offer them wide scope for doing so.

The vocational orientation programme [Programa de Orientación Vocacional] is aimed at pupils in basic education [Educación Básica] and upper secondary education [Educación Media Superior]. For basic education, the programme consists of five activities (a total of nine hours) that are dedicated to examining one's own professional career. This offer is continued in the higher intermediate education. In addition to the pupils' own strengths and interests, the educational opportunities after completing upper secondary education and entering the labour market are focused on more intensively, and practical activities such as company visits are integrated (26 hours in total). These activities are partly online-based, partly carried out by specially trained teachers and company representatives in the schools as part of the vocational orientation (tutorial) anchored in the curriculum (cf. SEP 2016a).

The National College for Technical Vocational Education [Colegio Nacional de Educación Profesional Técnica, CONALEP] is very active in this area and is one of the most important providers of vocational training courses (see sections 4.3.1 and 5.2.1). On the one hand, there are cooperations with secondary schools in which specialised teachers provide information about the various training courses offered by CONALEP. On the other hand, it offers a range of career guidance activities that help with the later choice of career, strengthen the social responsibility of the students and provide individual support in achieving the desired school-leaving qualification (cf. Cáceres-Reebs 2017).

The Observatory for the Labour Market [Observatorio Laboral] offers further clues in the context of career guidance. This tool introduced by the STPS to improve the labour market situation offers general information on supply and demand on the labour market, but also support in choosing a profession, course of study or training (cf. STPS n.d.).

The inclusion of people with disabilities has been an important issue at the political level since the 1990s. The current project at the time of the research is the Programme for Inclusion and Equality in Education [Programa para la Inclusión y la Equidad Educativa], which was launched in 2014. In addition to the inclusion of children and young people with disabilities, it is also dedicated to improving access to education for children with indigenous roots or migrants.

The needs of pupils with special needs are represented by the Directorate General for Curricular Development [Dirección General de Desarrollo Curricular], which is assigned to the State Secretariat for Basic Education [Subsecretaría de Educación Básica]. It represents the interests not only of children and young people with disabilities and other special needs, but also of those with outstanding abilities.

Three types of services can be distinguished that are part of the special education system: Support services, school-based services and guidance. The former refer to the inclusion of children and young people with special needs in the regular school system as well as pre-school education. In the 2015/2016 school year, 4,389 regular education support services [Unidades de Servicios de Apoyo a la Educación Regular, USAER] provided advice and assistance to schools and teachers (cf. SEP 2016b, p. 27). These centres consist of a group of experts such as social pedagogues, social workers, psychologists and speech and learning therapists and usually supervise four to five schools, depending on the geographical coverage. There, they work closely with the teachers to create the necessary framework for successful inclusion and to provide support in teaching. So-called centres for psycho-pedagogical support in primary education [Centro de Atención Psicopedagógica de Educación Preescolar, CAPEP] support children and adolescents who have problems in their learning processes, language difficulties or problems with the development of psychomotor skills. Furthermore, in the 2015/2016 school year there were 6,060 special schools [Centros de Atención Múltiple, CAM], which offer a common school programme for pupils with various disabilities and limitations. Some of them have a vocational focus (cf. SEP 2016b, p. 27). The counselling services mentioned are aimed at teachers and family members of children and young people with disabilities as well as other interested persons. They provide information, for example, about possible education and care options and about daily living needs (cf. SEP n.d.).

Mexican higher education is divided into two areas:

Programmes that follow directly on from obtaining a university entrance qualification [pregrado], and.

programmes that require a first tertiary degree [posgrado].

The former include programmes that are roughly comparable to a Bachelor's degree and lead to the Licenciatura degree after successful completion of a regular eight to ten semesters. Teacher training is also assigned to this area. In addition, there are more vocationally oriented programmes that lead to the title of "academically qualified technician" [Técnico Superior Universitario] after a regular four to six semesters.

The posgrado programmes can be differentiated into maestría (similar to a master's degree, regularly four semesters), specialisations (regularly two semesters) and programmes leading to a doctorate (regularly six semesters).

Around one third of 18- to 23-year-olds were enrolled in a tertiary-level degree programme in the 2015/2016 school year. 90.5 per cent of them took part in an offer of universities or vocationally oriented colleges. Three per cent were studying at a normal school for future teachers [Escuelas Normales para Maestros] and 6.5 per cent were enrolled in posgrado programmes. Table 28 provides further information on the absolute numbers of students, teachers and schools. The public offerings are divided into a variety of different offerings. Table 29 provides an overview of this.

The traditional offerings include the national and state universities as well as the technological institutes, which offer the classic courses of study to achieve the Licenciatura, specialisation, Maestría or doctorate. In addition, there are various institutions that offer shorter and more labour market-oriented training (mostly Técnico Superior Universitario, sometimes also Licenciatura) such as the Polytechnic Universities or the Technological Universities. The Intercultural Universities focus on courses that deal with indigenous peoples and communities.

With regard to private offers, there is a great variety with clear differences in quality. Official recognition of degrees is the responsibility of the SEP. Most (public) tertiary programmes require the successful completion of an entrance examination.

Entry into the teaching profession requires the Licenciatura, with some exceptions (see section 5.4.1). For pre-school education, primary and secondary education, physical education and special needs education, teacher training takes place in the approximately 280 public and approximately 200 private normal schools or in the approximately 80 branches of the National Pedagogical University [Universidad Pedagógica Nacional]. Furthermore, entry into the teaching profession is also possible after studying the corresponding subject science (cf. Cruz Ruiz 2016; Roldán Vera 2015).

The National Council for Education for Life and Work [Consejo Nacional de Educación para la Vida y el Trabajo, CONEVyT] was established in 2000 as a national commission to coordinate existing adult education services. Its executive body in the area of basic education is the National Institute for Adult Education [Instituto Nacional para la Educación de los Adultos, INEA] at the federal level, as well as the subordinate institutes for adult education of the states [Institutos Estatales de Educación para Adultos, IEEA].

The respective offers are divided into three areas (furthermore, there are various options for continuing vocational education and training, see section 4.3.6):

• Literacy,
• primary education and lower secondary education,
• Secondary level II and recognition of non-formally and informally acquired competences at secondary level II.

In addition, CONEVyT offers other courses, e.g. in the areas of household management, first aid, health care and many more.

The free literacy and primary and lower secondary education courses are aimed at people aged at least 15 who have not had access to the regular school system or who have left it before completing their basic education. For this purpose, INEA established the Model of Education for Life and Work [Modelo de Educación para la Vida y el Trabajo, MEVyT]. This is divided into a competence-based module system. Depending on the degree sought, various compulsory modules from the fields of mathematics, language and communication as well as natural sciences and compulsory elective modules (e.g. from the fields of health and environment, family, work, media competence, etc.) must be completed. In addition, a final examination must be passed.

Many of the modules can already be taken online. For those participants who do not have access to a computer with internet connection or do not want to complete the courses online, so-called community places [plazas comunitarias] are available. These meeting places for adults are equipped with workstations for learners, group rooms and internet-enabled computers. The majority was financed entirely by INEA. In addition, premises and equipment from schools or funds provided by companies are used.

For the upper secondary level, there is the possibility to study online. Since 2000, non-formally and informally acquired competences can also be recognised within the framework of an official regulation of the SEP (Acuerdo 286). This offer is aimed at people who are at least 25 years old and can prove successful completion of lower secondary education. In order to obtain the credit points to be recognised or the entire qualification, multiple-choice questions, an essay and an oral examination must be completed (cf. CONEVyT n.d.; Díaz de Cossío/Bagur 2003; INEA n.d.; UNESCO and UNESCO Institute of Lifelong Learning 2013).

In addition to the traditional variants with personal presence, so-called open learning offers are available [Modalidades no escolarizadas]: These include the counselling offer in the context of early childhood education (see section 3.4.1) as well as the possibilities of adult education (see section 3.4.7). Furthermore, there are different variants of distance learning and distance education. These are aimed at all pupils and students who, due to personal circumstances, are unable to participate in the formal educational programmes of upper secondary education and higher education with physical attendance. In the 2015/2016 school year, 299,267 pupils completed the general baccalaureate and 2,520 the vocational baccalaureate in this way. 91.8 per cent used public offers for this (cf. SEP 2016b, p. 20). In addition to numerous private options, the SEP offers the alternatives explained below:

On the one hand, the general baccalaureate can be completed or made up for in a flexible manner [preparatoria abierta]. This option has existed since 1979, but was fundamentally revised in the course of the RIEMS in 2010. The 22 competence-based modules can be completed individually and without time restrictions. 21 of them deal with general education content and are divided into the five areas of communication, mathematics, natural sciences, social sciences and human sciences. In addition, a vocationally related module from the field of computer science must be taken. These can be worked on independently by the students with the help of online-based solutions. If desired, lecturers and tutors can provide support. After successful completion of all module examinations, the Abitur certificate is awarded (cf. DGB 2014).

The preparation for the general baccalaureate can also be completed as distance learning [preparatoria a distancia]. This option leads to the official qualification in about 28 months and is taken exclusively online. This option consists of the same 21 general modules of the Preparatoria Abierta (see above) plus two vocational modules from the field of computer science. One month is available for completing a single module (cf. SEP o. J.a).

The option of completing the vocationally oriented baccalaureate or vocational training is also available in isolated cases as an online-based variant at some centres for scientific and technical education in the federal states [Centros de Estudios Científicos y Tecnológicos Estatales, CECyTE] (see also section 4.3.1). In addition to the individual subject-specific modules, discussions in chats and forums as well as simulations of practical activities are increasingly used for this purpose (cf. IPN/Secretaría Académica 2012).

As part of its programme Vocational Training as Distance Learning for Workers [Programa de Capacitación a Distancia para Trabajadores, PROCADIST], the STPS offers the opportunity to complete topic-specific online courses free of charge. These have an approximate completion time of up to 48 hours and can be completed within seven days. Upon successful completion of the final test, a confirmation [Constancia] is issued (cf. gob.mx o. J.b).

In the tertiary sector, too, there are various options for distance learning, some of which differ significantly in terms of implementation and content - as is also the case with the classic degree programmes. In the 2015/2016 school year, 595,456 students were enrolled in such study programmes, 44.6 per cent of them at public institutions (cf. SEP 2016b).

In addition to the traditional variants with personal presence, so-called open learning offers are available [Modalidades no escolarizadas]: These include the counselling offer in the context of early childhood education (see section 3.4.1) as well as the possibilities of adult education (see section 3.4.7). Furthermore, there are different variants of distance learning and distance education. These are aimed at all pupils and students who, due to personal circumstances, are unable to participate in the formal educational programmes of upper secondary education and higher education with physical attendance. In the 2015/2016 school year, 299,267 pupils completed the general baccalaureate and 2,520 the vocational baccalaureate in this way. 91.8 per cent used public offers for this (cf. SEP 2016b, p. 20). In addition to numerous private options, the SEP offers the alternatives explained below:

On the one hand, the general baccalaureate can be completed or made up for in a flexible manner [preparatoria abierta]. This option has existed since 1979, but was fundamentally revised in the course of the RIEMS in 2010. The 22 competence-based modules can be completed individually and without time restrictions. 21 of them deal with general education content and are divided into the five areas of communication, mathematics, natural sciences, social sciences and human sciences. In addition, a vocationally related module from the field of computer science must be taken. These can be worked on independently by the students with the help of online-based solutions. If desired, lecturers and tutors can provide support. After successful completion of all module examinations, the Abitur certificate is awarded (cf. DGB 2014).

The preparation for the general baccalaureate can also be completed as distance learning [preparatoria a distancia]. This option leads to the official qualification in about 28 months and is taken exclusively online. This option consists of the same 21 general modules of the Preparatoria Abierta (see above) plus two vocational modules from the field of computer science. One month is available for completing a single module (cf. SEP o. J.a).

The option of completing the vocationally oriented baccalaureate or vocational training is also available in isolated cases as an online-based variant at some centres for scientific and technical education in the federal states [Centros de Estudios Científicos y Tecnológicos Estatales, CECyTE] (see also section 4.3.1). In addition to the individual subject-specific modules, discussions in chats and forums as well as simulations of practical activities are increasingly used for this purpose (cf. IPN/Secretaría Académica 2012).

As part of its programme Vocational Training as Distance Learning for Workers [Programa de Capacitación a Distancia para Trabajadores, PROCADIST], the STPS offers the opportunity to complete topic-specific online courses free of charge. These have an approximate completion time of up to 48 hours and can be completed within seven days. Upon successful completion of the final test, a confirmation [Constancia] is issued (cf. gob.mx o. J.b).

In the tertiary sector, too, there are various options for distance learning, some of which differ significantly in terms of implementation and content - as is also the case with the classic degree programmes. In the academic year 2015/2016, 595,456 students were enrolled in such courses of study,