Social Inequality or a Path to Success? Perceptions about the Professional Training Received at Intercultural Universities in Mexico: The Case of the Intercultural in the State of Hidalgo.

Scholars on the educational issue in Mexico point out that the Intercultural Universities in the country have been conceived as: "[a] new educational model, [that] can represent the academic solution to the urgent demands and vindication of the indigenous people that have been forgotten and discriminated against by the Mexican State, so they can be recognized and have the right to self-determination "(Gullo, 2006: 121; Gaete, 2015).

However, a discussion has emerged around this educational model that questions it’s academic and formative relevance, and the Intercultural term in this social sector — it is emphasized that the target population is specifically indigenous— (Gaete, 2015, Flores, 2015, Garcia, 2015: 302).

The Intercultural University of the State of Hidalgo (UICEH), clearly shows the situation presented in some Higher Education Institutions (HEI) in the country, where the contents of several study programs are created without the intervention of pedagogues, educational designers or even professors who are knowledgeable in the matter; offering study programs that do not add up to the desired professional training due to having subjects with little curricular value.

Based on the mentioned arguments and through semi-structured interviews, the opinion of the graduates of the first two generations of the UICEH is analyzed, in terms of the impact of the training received for their professional development and that of the region in which they live. The goal of this research work is to know if, from the perspective of graduates, the possibility of a social ascent from their studies in a HEI such as Intercultural is possible, or if it is only a purely political matter, whose purpose is to serve a sector of the vulnerable population of the place, as suggested by Gaete (2015).