1 ROSADO-MAY, F.J. 2013. Indigenous education. Which way to go? The intercultural model for higher education developed in Mexico. II International Meeting Canada-Mexico On Indigenous Education, University of Lethbridge, Canada, June 22nd. INDIGENOUS EDUCATION. WHICH WAY TO GO? THE INTERCULTURAL MODEL FOR HIGHER EDUCATION DEVELOPED IN MEXICO Francisco J. Rosado-May Universidad Intercultural Maya de Quintana Roo francisco.rosadomay@uimqroo.edu.mx ABSTRACT In the context of an ongoing discussion between universities from Canada and Intercultural Universities from Mexico, regarding the exploration and exchanging experiences in the area of indigenous education, this conference presents experiences from Mexico regarding the development of the intercultural education model for higher education. Before the implementation of the intercultural model for indigenous population, mostly but not only, the discussion in Mexico included the scenario of intracultural education and the scenario of increasing the number of indigenous students in conventional universities trough fellowships, quotas, etc. Although there were strong and sound arguments, both of these scenarios have important flaws. The intercultural model blends the strength of both scenarios, intracultural and conventional, providing the great opportunity to students to have high academic and professional training to “compete/adapt” successfully in a global world and, at the same time, strengthen their indigenous identity, language, culture and ways of learning and constructing knowledge. At the Intercultural Maya University of Quintana Roo (UIMQRoo, Spanish acronym) the working definition of intercultural education is “the process that takes place in a safe environment in which different systems of constructing knowledge coexist, allowing interactions and increasing opportunities for synergies, in a context of glocal values”. INTRODUCTION The word “intercultural” is becoming a very popular word in recent years. For instance, only a few years ago the word “intercultural” was hardly found in Amazon.com; on June 15 th , 2013, under the words “intercultural education” there were found 3,328 entries. The subject has called the attention of several authors; interestingly Pöllman (2013) discusses the concept of intercultural capital to understand sociocultural distinction.