The National Polytechnic Institute (Spanish: Instituto Politécnico Nacional), abbreviated IPN, is one of the largest public universities in Mexico with 171,581 students[16] at the high school, undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

[16] Its main campus, called 'Unidad Profesional Adolfo López Mateos' or 'Zacatenco', located in northern Mexico City, covers approximately 530 acres (2.1 km2) .

[16] The institute was founded on January 1, 1936, during the administration of President Lázaro Cárdenas in what had been previously known as the Ex hacienda Santo Tomás — a large estate initially owned by Spanish conqueror Hernán Cortés in the 16th century[23] and donated by the federal government.

[24] Prominent astronomer Luis Enrique Erro, former revolutionary Juan de Dios Bátiz Paredes and former minister of education Narciso Bassols were among its initial promoters.

[16] IPN fields 27 varsity teams in sports or activities such as archery, American football, athletics, baseball, basketball, body building, bowling, boxing, chess, cycling, frontenis, gymnastics, handball, indoor soccer, judo, karate, kendo, mountaineering, rowing, soccer, swimming, taekwondo, tennis, touch football, volleyball, weightlifting, and wrestling.