Panamerican University

The university was founded in 1967 as a business school, when a group of wealthy and devout catholic businessmen and academics, inspired by the University of Navarra and University of Salamanca, created the Instituto Panamericano de Alta Dirección de Empresas (English: Panamerican Institute for Executive Business Management), also known as IPADE. Soon after, they promoted the creation of a university. As a result, the Instituto Panamericano de Humanidades (Panamerican Institute of Humanities), founded in 1968, merged with the IPADE and created the Panamerican University. It was all done under the spiritual direction of Opus Dei, a personal prelature of the Catholic Church.

Carlos Llano Cifuentes, a Mexican philosopher who had ties with Opus Dei, is often named the 'father of the university' because of his longstanding involvement in the conception of the institute.

In 1978, the IPH was given University rank and took the name Universidad Panamericana, even though the IPADE and IPH conceived from their origins the universal and unitarian knowledge.

The new university began with only two programs, Pedagogy and Administration. During the 1970s new programs were added, including Law and Philosophy (1970), Economics and Business Administration (1977), and Industrial Engineering (1978). Further new programs were added in the 1980s and 1990s, including Electromechanic Engineering, Accountancy (1981), Informatics, Marketing, International Business, Finance (1993), and Medicine (1996).

Motto and coat of arms

Ubi spiritus, libertas (Where the spirit is, there is freedom) is the university's motto, synthesizing the educational philosophy. Love of freedom in a space where the human spirit is cultivated—love of authentic freedom.

The university's arms is formed by two elements: The red square and the blue band on the golden left side, which represent the coat of arms used by Christopher Columbus when he landed in the Americas; they symbolize Pan-Americanism.

On the right side, on top of a golden bottom, there's an Oak, symbol of strength. Its roots are the diverse sources of integral development; the four ramifications symbolize the Cardinal Virtues: Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance; the leaves and acorns represent the rest of the virtues, which derive of the fundamental four.