UAM Azcapotzalco is one of the five campus of the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana system, the second best ranked Mexican public university for the year 2018, according to Times Higher Education.

It is one of the three campus built shortly after Mexican President Luis Echeverría decreed the foundation of Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana in 1974.

The creation of Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana was a response to the increasing demand for public higher education in the metropolitan area of Mexico City, which by those years was undergoing severe demographic changes due to a process of conurbation that started in the early 1940s.

The main idea was to cope with the demand for this service throughout the outskirts of the metropolitan area, locating the university's campus in the outlying boroughs.

UAM Azcapotzalco hosts 17 majors, lasting between 12 and 15 quarter-terms or four and five years respectively.