of Education, which is in charge of formulating, implementing and supervising the national educational policy. According to the Constitution, education is compulsory and free in public schools for the initial, primary and secondary levels. It is also free in public universities for students who are unable to pay tuition and have an adequate academic performance. As of 2008, various institutions such as UNESCO, World Bank, and the Inter-American Development Bank have stated that Peru has the best education system in Latin America and that primary, secondary, and superior education attendance rates were the highest in Latin America. The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has however placed Peru at the bottom of the ranking in all three categories (Math, science and reading) in 2012 compared to the 65 nations participating in the study of 15-year-old school pupils' scholastic performance. Higher education in the form of universities began in Peru with the establishment of the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos by the Royal Decree issued by King Carlos V on 12 May 1551. The institute opened as the Sala Capitular del Convento de Santo Domingo in 1553. In 1571, it obtained Papal approval and in 1574 it received the name of Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos. The precursor to the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, the "Estudio General o Universidad", was established in Cusco by the Dominicans on 1 July 1548. This institution was responsible for teaching evangelists for the new lands, and taught scripture, theology, grammar, and the Quechuan language. The National University of Saint Anthony the Abbot in Cuzco (UNSAAC) is a public university in Cusco, Peru and one of the oldest in the country. Its foundation was first proposed on 1 March 1692, at the urging and support of Pope Innocent XII. The document in which Pope Innocent XII sponsored the founding of the university was signed in Madrid, Spain by King Charles II on 1 June 1692, thus becoming Cusco's principal and oldest university. The university was authorized to confer the bachelors, licentiate, masters, and doctorate degrees. Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (, PUCP) is a private university in Lima, Peru. It was founded in 1917 by Catholic priest Father Jorge Dintilhac SS.CC as Peru's first non-profit private institution of higher learning. Academically, PUCP ranks alternatively as first or second in Peru. In July 2012, after an Apostolic Visitation, begun earlier, in 2011, by