Zacatecas university rector says institution faces financial crisis: “UAZ cannot resolve a debt of this magnitude”

The Autonomous University of Zacatecas is facing one of the most complex financial crises in its history, and its rector says it cannot solve the problem alone. Ángel Román Gutiérrez made the assessment during his first report on the 2025-2026 academic year at the Fernando Calderón Theatre.

“UAZ cannot resolve a debt of this magnitude on its own,” Román Gutiérrez said. He announced the beginning of a Comprehensive University Reform and called for a structural solution agreed with the state and federal governments. No internal savings plan, he argued, can replace a joint response from the authorities.

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UAZ cannot resolve a debt of this magnitude on its own.

The National Association of Universities and Higher Education Institutions, known as ANUIES, supported the financial recovery plan and the structural reform announced by the university administration. Its executive secretary general, Luis González Placencia, said UAZ’s stability was a national security asset and a driver of social transformation because of its role in training professionals and expanding access to public education.

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honest and brave

González Placencia described the rector’s address as “honest and brave.” He said acknowledging an institution’s financial difficulties was not an admission of weakness, but an act of responsibility that could build trust with different levels of government. Taking responsibility for the financial reality, he added, could move the university from uncertainty toward institutional reconstruction.

He also said Mexican universities were caught in a “polycrisis,” a term attributed to sociologist Edgar Morin to describe the convergence of structural, financial and social problems. ANUIES rejects labeling some institutions as “universities in crisis,” he said, arguing that the pressures facing higher education require cooperation between universities and authorities. “The university is not an administrative burden, it is the institution where Zacatecas’s pride and future are built,” González Placencia said.

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The university is not an administrative burden, it is the institution where Zacatecas’s pride and future are built.