The paper describes the growth of Mexican higher education in relation to political economy of the country from the decade of the fifties until present time. The historical analysis looks the moments in which major changes have been introduced to produce important effects in enrollments. The aim of this paper is to show how the provision of higher education opportunities is related to the fate of a development model followed by the country and how, when losing control of economy, its national goals escape between the fingers. [For the complete Volume 14, Number 1 proceedings, see ED568088.]