Evaluation of the sanctioning power in Autonomous Public Universities in Mexico

Abstract

The sanctioning power of the Autonomous Public Universities in Mexico is justified when they generate regulatory devices that allow them to self-regulate and self-govern, therefore, they are legitimized to impose sanctions for non-compliance with standards established in their regulations. Therefore, this research identified if the hypothesis proposed is true, that is, if there is a university sanctioning power over students and how it can be subject or limited regarding the right to education. To this end, a questionnaire with five questions was designed and sent to thirty-five geographically representative autonomous public universities in Mexico. It was analyzed whether these institutions had a code of conduct and a sanctioning regulation. In addition, information on sanctioning processes for students was collected for ten years, dividing the results into two blocks. In the first block, the existence of codes of conduct and sanctioning regulations was evaluated, while in the second, the number of sanctioning processes, sanctioned students, firm sanctions, and sanctions appealed for human rights violations was analyzed, identifying the universities with the highest and fewer sanctions and discovering good practices in the construction of codes of conduct.