The Mexican government has shut down 88 private universities over the past two years for failing to comply with basic standards, education officials said this week.

The unprecedented closings are part of a new push by the government of President Vicente Fox to regulate the growing number of private universities, which has gone from 67 in 1975 to 1,368 today, according to government figures. The colleges are responding to a growing demand for higher education among middle-class Mexicans, a need which is not being met by public universities. Of the 407 institutions of higher education that opened between 1999 and 2002, 298 were private, according to the Education Secretariat. In 1990, private institutions taught 37 percent of Mexican college students. Today, they account for 56 percent of students.

But critics say the government has turned a blind eye to the poor academic quality and the lack of basic facilities at most of the private institutions. Some of the universities closed recently were offering engineering and science degrees, but lacked laboratories. Others held classes in professors' houses or garages to cut costs, according to a report published on Tuesday in Reforma, a Mexico City newspaper.

Mexican educators welcomed the recent crackdown, but said it was long overdue.

"Everyone has a right to earn a living, but not by tricking people and fabricating diplomas," said Raúl Valadez García, vice-president of the Mexican Federation of Private Institutions of Higher Education, a group of the country's top 93 private universities.

Mr. Valadez, who is rector of La Salle University, a respected private institution in Mexico City, said the government should apply more rigorous standards in approving new private universities and in regulating existing ones. In addition, he said, the government should expand the number of spots at public universities. Tuition fees at top universities like La Salle start at $7,000 a year, an impossible sum for most students.