The Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara A.C. (UAG) is a private university in Mexico, the first of its kind. The campuses are located in Zapopan, Jalisco. The university has become one of the most important educational institutions in Latin America, attracting students from Mexico, Europe, South America, Puerto Rico, Korea, Japan, the United States and Canada. Much of this prestige is due to the Medical School but UAG offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees. The university was founded in 1935 by students opposed to the socialist education mandated by Mexico's then president, General Lázaro Cárdenas. Those who sought to circumvent Cárdenas' educational system endured many struggles and threats from the government. The unsanctioned institution first known as Universidad del Occidente (University of the West), would later be styled La Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara A.C., its current official name, meaning The Independent University of Guadalajara. The A.C. suffix is quite common in the Hispanosphere, seen attached to all types of enterprises. The shortening is from Asociación Civil and denotes a non-profit enterprise.