El Colegio Nacional (Mexico)
The National College (Spanish: Colegio Nacional) is a Mexican honorary academy with a strictly limited membership created by presidential decree in 1943 in order to bring together the country's foremost artists and scientists, who are periodically invited to deliver lectures and seminars in their respective area of speciality.[2] The college's foundation decree, signed by General Manuel Ávila Camacho, limited membership to twenty Mexican-born citizens, who were supposed to deliver their lectures and or seminars in its official premises at Mexico City.A subsequent amendment signed by President Luis Echeverría in 1971 increased the limit to forty and members were given the choice of delivering both their lectures or seminars in places other than the capital.In 1995, President Ernesto Zedillo amended the rules so that naturalized Mexicans could be admitted to the college irrespective of the date on which they acquired citizenship.The main room in the building is the assembly hall, where debates take place, new members are initiated and congresses in the college's various specialities are conducted.