The University of Guadalajara () is a public higher education institution in the Mexican city of Guadalajara. The university has several high schools as well as graduate and undergraduate campuses, which are distributed all over the state of Jalisco, Mexico. It is regarded as the most significant university in the state. Chronologically, based on its foundation, is the second oldest in Mexico, the seventeenth in North America and the fourteenth in Latin America. Since 1994, the university works through a network model to organize its academic activities. This university network is integrated by 15 university centers, the Virtual University System, the High School Education System and the general administrative body of the university. During 2014–2015 the total number of enrolled students is 255,944 of which 116,424 belong to graduate and undergraduate students and 139,520 to high school students. History The Royal University of Guadalajara (1791–1821) At the time of its foundation in 1586 College began offering higher education in Guadalajara, and as a result, it was the first institution that granted academic degrees. The first one who requested to establish a university in Guadalajara was Friar Felipe Galindo y Chavez who, in 1696, asked the King Charles II of Spain to increase the range of the recently founded Royal Seminary of San Jose. This way, a long century of arrangements to found the University of Guadalajara began. Chronologically, the second oldest in Mexico, the seventeenth in North America, and the fourteenth in Latin America. The proposition of Friar Felipe was reconsidered by the lawyer Matias Angel de la Mota Padilla, who, in 1750, was able to involve the Guadalajara's city hall into the project. However, it was only after the banishment of all Company of Jesus' members from all Spain's territories in 1767, when the need of a university in the region of Nueva Galicia was relevant. This occurred because the Company of Jesus managed the two most important colleges in the city: the Santo Tomas College and the San Juan Bautista College. Moreover, on December 12, 1771, arrived to Guadalajara the new bishop to Nueva Galicia, Friar Antonio Alcalde y Barriga, who significantly supported the foundation of the university. In 1775 the Friar replied a grit from King Charles III of Spain, who consulted him about the convenience of establishing a university in Nueva Galicia. The answer of the Friar was completely positive, so on November 18, 1791, the