Procedures: how a student defends themselves in Mexico
This guide explains, with sources, what stages the formal procedure has when a Mexican university accuses you of plagiarism or academic fraud on the strength of a detector, and where Descargo fits in each. Spain and Colombia are in procedures.md, and Argentina in procedures-ar.md, Chile in procedures-cl.md, and Peru in procedures-pe.md.
This is not legal advice. It is public information put in order. Every fact carries its source and the date a person checked it by reading the official text. What could not be checked is marked to verify. Every university also has its own rules, which take precedence over the general ones: read yours in full before replying to anything.
A detector's percentage is an indication, not a sanction. To sanction you, the university has to open a procedure and let you defend yourself within it.
What applies (checked 2026-11-08)
There is no national law on university discipline. Each autonomous university sets its own:
The Constitution, art. 3, section VII: the universities to which the law grants autonomy «tendrán la facultad y la responsabilidad de gobernarse a sí mismas» (shall have the power and the responsibility to govern themselves) (CPEUM, last amended in the DOF 2026-10-07).
The Ley General de Educación Superior (DOF 2021-04-20), art. 2: the autonomous ones «se regirán por sus respectivas leyes orgánicas, la normatividad que deriva de éstas y, en lo que resulte compatible, por las disposiciones de la presente Ley» (shall be governed by their own organic laws, the rules derived from them and, where compatible, by this Law). Among the criteria of higher education policy is the «fomento de la integridad académica» (promotion of academic integrity) (art. 10, section VI) (LGES).
The Constitution, art. 14: nobody may be deprived of their rights except through a trial «en el que se cumplan las formalidades esenciales del procedimiento y conforme a las Leyes expedidas con anterioridad al hecho» (in which the essential formalities of the procedure are met, in accordance with laws issued before the act). How this applies, in concrete terms, to a university sanction is to verify with a professional (see amparo, below).
So the stages, the deadlines and the offences come from your university's own rules. What follows is the example of the UNAM, the largest in the country. Use it to know what to look for in yours, not as if it were yours.
Example: the UNAM
Sources: the Estatuto General, arts. 93 to 101 (text), and the Reglamento del Tribunal Universitario, amended on 2025-11-27 (text), both on the website of the Oficina de la Abogacía General.
What counts as an offence
| Conduct | Sanction | Article |
|---|---|---|
| Having «prestado o recibido ayuda fraudulenta en las pruebas de aprovechamiento» (given or received fraudulent help in achievement tests) | Suspension for up to one year, «sin perjuicio de la nulidad del examen sustentado» (without prejudice to the annulment of the exam taken) | Estatuto, 97.II |
| Fraudulent help «para la titulación y/o examen de grado» (for the degree and/or the degree exam) | Review process and, where appropriate, annulment of the exam, besides the sanctions in the Estatuto | Estatuto, 97.III |
| Forging certificates, exam transcripts and similar documents | Expulsion | Estatuto, 97.IV |
If the offence has no sanction specified, the options are a reprimand, suspension or removal from posts, suspension of university rights for up to one year, or definitive expulsion (Estatuto, 98.II).
The Estatuto General does not use the word «plagio» (checked on 2026-11-10 in its current text). Which article would apply to you depends on what you are charged with, and the Estatuto does not say. What it does contain:
| What | Article |
|---|---|
| Everyone in the University must observe the principles of its Código de Ética (code of ethics) | 7 |
| Before graduating you sign the protest of academic integrity and honesty: you accept that, if a breach is detected, «se dejen sin efectos los actos realizados» (the acts done are left without effect) | 87.V |
| The University may declare the absolute nullity of the certificate, diploma, title or degree if the requirements of the rules were not met; the person affected may choose another graduation route | 5 (para. 2) and 87.VI |
| «Actos contrarios a la moral, a la ética y al respeto» (acts contrary to morals, ethics and respect) among university members is an especially serious cause of liability (article amended on 2020-02-12 and 2025-03-31) | 95.VII |
| A teacher's lack of academic integrity and honesty in supervising theses and papers | 96.III |
None of these articles names copying a written work or sets its sanction. For students, the conduct with a sanction of its own is that in the table above: fraudulent help in tests (97.II) and for graduating (97.III). When the offence has no sanction specified, 98.II applies.
Beware of old citations. The UNAM's Faculty of Law explains plagiarism through arts. 87.I, 95.I and VI and 97.II (the Faculty's guide), and says students who commit it «podrán ser reprobados» (may fail the course) and be suspended for up to a year. That is one faculty's reading, not a rule, and its numbering does not match the current text: there, 95.VI is carrying weapons and the «moral y ética» paragraph is VII.
If they charge you with an offence, ask them to tell you which article and which specific fact you are charged with, and which sanction they intend to apply: it is a point for your reply. The rules of your faculty or programme may also regulate plagiarism in a written work.
The stages of the procedure (Reglamento, art. 2)
Deadlines are counted in working days of the school calendar (Reglamento, art. 3).
Initial. It begins in your faculty or school, with a report or complaint to its head or on the faculty's own initiative (art. 2.I).
Investigation. Your faculty carries it out, within up to twenty working days, extendable by a reasoned decision. It ends with a decision that sends the file to the Tribunal Universitario, declares the case inadmissible, imposes a reprimand or decides that a conciliation agreement is appropriate (art. 14 bis). Before notifying you of a provisional sanction, the faculty has to ask for the observations of the Oficina de la Abogacía General, which also checks «el respeto de los derechos de la persona remitida» (respect for the rights of the person referred) (art. 14).
The head of your faculty or school can reprimand you at once, or suspend or expel you provisionally. In that case the matter must go to the Tribunal within six days at most (Estatuto, art. 93).
Referral to the Tribunal. The faculty sends the file within a maximum of six working days from notifying you (art. 14). The file must carry «el total de los elementos de prueba» (all the evidence) (art. 17). Within ten working days, the Tribunal admits it, asks for it to be completed or sends it back if it sees acts that violate due process (art. 17.III).
Notification. They send you the admission, with a copy of the referral document and «el total de las pruebas que integran la investigación» (all the evidence that makes up the investigation), and inform you of your rights (art. 19). It reaches you first by email (art. 18).
Your reply. You have ten working days to reply in writing, offer evidence and present closing arguments (art. 23.I). Evidence is offered by stating which fact each item proves (art. 20).
Preliminary hearing. It is oral and, with exceptions, public. The evidence is taken and the arguments are put forward in it (art. 25).
Resolution. The Sala (Chamber) upholds, modifies or revokes what your faculty decided, and the resolution must be «debidamente fundada y motivada» (duly founded and reasoned) (art. 29). The Tribunal assesses the evidence freely (Estatuto, art. 101).
Review. The Tribunal's resolution can be challenged by a review appeal (recurso de revisión) before the Comisión de Honor of the Consejo Universitario, in writing and within a maximum of five working days of notification (art. 31). If you were only reprimanded, you ask for the review before the Tribunal itself (art. 32; Estatuto, art. 93).
Your rights before the Tribunal (Reglamento, art. 23)
To reply in writing and offer evidence and closing arguments within ten working days.
To have an adviser or legal representative. If you do not have one, the Defensoría de los Derechos Universitarios, Igualdad y Atención de la Violencia de Género advises you on which public institution can provide one.
To know the contents of the file, by consulting it at the Tribunal.
To challenge (seek the recusal of) any member of the Sala.
To attend and take part in the preliminary hearing.
If the university does not respect your rights
The juicio de amparo (amparo trial) is the federal route to challenge acts that violate fundamental rights (Ley de Amparo, last amended in the DOF 2025-10-16). What the law says:
An authority responsible for the act is whoever issues an act that «crea, modifica o extingue situaciones jurídicas en forma unilateral y obligatoria» (creates, modifies or extinguishes legal situations unilaterally and compulsorily), «con independencia de su naturaleza formal» (regardless of its formal nature), and a private party can also be one when it performs acts equivalent to those of an authority (art. 5, section II).
The general deadline to file the claim is fifteen days (art. 17), counted from the day after the one on which the notification takes effect (art. 18).
Beforehand, as a general rule, you must exhaust the remedies that can modify or revoke the act (art. 61, section XX), such as the review before the Comisión de Honor at the UNAM.
To verify: whether a disciplinary sanction from your university, public or private, can be challenged in amparo depends on how the courts treat it, and this guide has not checked that in the case law. See a professional before the fifteen days run out.
To verify
Whether the rules of each UNAM faculty or programme (not the Estatuto) regulate plagiarism in a written work, and how each university regulates it.
The regime of private universities (those with reconocimiento de validez oficial de estudios, official recognition of studies): their procedure comes from their own regulation.
The autonomous universities of each state: each has its own organic law and its own rules.
Whether your university has an ombudsperson for university rights like the UNAM's, and what it is called.
Where Descargo fits
| Stage | What Descargo can do |
|---|---|
| Before submitting | inspect lists what the file carries besides the visible text |
| Investigation | access-request drafts the request for access to your data (ARCO rights), including the detector's report: to the Unidad de Transparencia if the university is public (LGPDPPSO) or to the university itself if it is private (LFPDPPP). See jurisdictions/mx/ |
| Your reply (10 working days at the UNAM) and preliminary hearing | import-report and audit help read the report and recalculate the percentage without quotations, bibliography or templates |
How this was checked
The Constitution, the Ley General de Educación Superior and the Ley de Amparo were downloaded from the website of the Cámara de Diputados, and the UNAM's Estatuto General and Reglamento del Tribunal Universitario from the website of its Oficina de la Abogacía General, on 2026-11-08. On 2026-11-10 the Estatuto General was read again on that site, with the reform of 2025-03-31 (arts. 5, 7, 87, 95, 96, 97 and 98), and searched for the word «plagio», which does not appear. The quotations were searched for in the text. Rules change (the Reglamento del Tribunal was amended in November 2025): check this document's date and that the text is still in force before relying on it.