Study Abroad Programs Wish For Additional Student Exchanges between the U.S. and Mexico

Mexico and the United States are reviving the study abroad programs and wish for additional student exchanges between the two countries. The federal government of Mexico has awarded scholarships to 7,500 Mexican teachers and university students to take short-term English language courses this winter in various schools in the United States. Participating in the programs are 160 universities and colleges and about 260 of the scholars from different schools in Mexico are now in San Diego.

One of the students is Tonalli Galicia, a 22-year old electrical engineering student, who was interviewed at the Universidad Autonoma de Baja California (UABC), the largest public university in Baja California. He started his three-week language immersion program at the Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut on the first Monday of December. He said he was not afraid of the cold and was actually looking forward to seeing snow. He actually requested for a school far away and was delighted that he got it.

Very few Mexican students study in the U.S. and vise versa

The U.S. and Mexico share a 1,954-mile border. They are also engaged in a flourishing international trade. However, based on the Open Doors Report, very few Mexicans study in the U.S., consisting only of about two percent or fewer than 15,000 (SY 2014-2015), which is far lower than foreign students coming from Taiwan, Vietnam, Korea and China. The Institute of International Education released the report in November. On the other hand, American students rarely go to Mexico to study. They usually go to Italy, France or England or even to Brazil and Argentina. The UABC has more European exchange students than Americans. The fact could not be more glaring when you consider that there are only three Mexicans who are enrolled in the University of California San Diego’s study-abroad programs out of the 1,000 foreign students. In the university’s La Jolla Campus, there are just 47 Mexicans out of the 4,000 foreign students.

Cross-border collaborations

Things are about to change soon as both countries launched new funds, scholarships and exchange programs among universities for cross-border collaborations. This year saw the launch of the UC-Mexico initiative by the University of California system. At the same time, the Mexican government and California Governor Jerry Brown signed an agreement to increase higher education collaboration.

Schools in California and in Mexico are working with the consulates of both countries to explore internship possibilities across the border with nonprofit organizations and businesses in the area. This is an effort to increase the competitiveness and integration of the North American region, according to minister-counselor of the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, Stephanie Syptak-Ramnath. The head of the Mexican Consulate in San Diego, Remedios Gómez-Arnau on the other hand believes that they need researchers working together in order for the two countries to innovate, which necessitates that they speak each other’s language.

Not only for the English language

The educational initiatives that have been launched not only involve three-week language immersion classes. They are looking at mainstream courses such as geophysics, geology, physics and engineering among others. President Obama launched the “100,000 Strong in the Americas” program in 2011 with the aim of having 100,000 American students enrolled in universities in Canada and Latin America by 2020. Mexico reciprocated with the “Proyecta 100,000” in 2013, which is aimed at having 50,000 students from the U.S. enrolled in Mexican universities and 100,000 Mexican students to study in American universities by 2018.

Image credit: Universidad Autónoma de Baja California taken by Armenta isai under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.