THE NEW BORDER Mexico and U.S. join in educating students ‘to compete with the world’

DENTON — Inside a cafeteria at the University of North Texas, Erwin Guillermo Fernández downs a turkey sandwich before class, talking excitedly about how his education here will open doors back in his native Mexico.

At least that’s the plan.

“My goal is to finish here this year, return to Mexico and try to make a difference,” said Fernández, 32, a graduate student in computer science. “This university has helped guide me toward that dream.”

Fernández is one of about 14,800 Mexican students studying in the U.S. They are part of a widening effort by the U.S. and Mexico to share educational resources to push an increasingly integrated North America to be even more competitive.

The task of educational institutions is to train a new workforce on both sides of the border to meet growing demands in energy, telecommunications, technological innovation and other areas. There is an emphasis on the so-called STEM fields — science, technology, engineering and math — and many of the Mexican students attending North Texas universities are on scholarships from the Mexican government to study in related fields.

“We have to see and think of Texas and Mexico as one region in order to compete with the world,” said Gabriel A. Carranza, assistant vice provost for global engagement and an adjunct research professor for biological sciences at UNT. “We’re so intertwined economically [and] culturally that we have to use education as the glue that ties our region.”

“We have to see and think of Texas and Mexico as one region in order to compete with the world.” Gabriel A. Carranza, assistant vice provost for global engagement and an adjunct research professor for biological sciences at UNT

Following the examples of China and India, Mexico is increasing the number of students it sends to the U.S. with paid tuition and a verbal commitment that they will return home. Yet because of Mexico’s proximity to the U.S., the consequences will be felt more directly across the region, experts say, as students return to help Mexico update its economy.

In the process, academics say, Texas institutions are becoming more sophisticated, embracing increased diversity and new teaching styles learned from counterparts south of the border. UNT’s goal, for instance, is to become one of the most diverse universities in the state — mirroring its 40 percent Hispanic population — if not in the country.

Mexico hopes that exporting students to Texas and beyond will help the country overcome familiar ills. Even with the world’s 14th-largest economy, Mexico still has half its population of 120 million living in poverty. The average wage is less than $6 a day, a factor in the decision by many Mexicans to cross the 1,200-mile border with Texas to look for work.

In May 2013, President Barack Obama and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto stood at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City and announced the creation of the U.S.-Mexico Bilateral Forum on Higher Education, Innovation and Research. The goal was to expand opportunities for educational exchanges, research partnerships and cross-border innovation to build a shared prosperity.

In the U.S., the program is known as “100,000-strong in the Americas,” with a goal of 100,000 U.S. students studying in other countries throughout the hemisphere, including Mexico. In Mexico, the project is called: “Proyecta 100,000,” which aims to have 100,000 Mexican students in the U.S. by 2018.

Since the program began, the U.S. has seen a 4.1 percent increase in the number of Mexican students studying at U.S. universities, from 14,199 in 2013 to 14,779 in 2014, according to the Institute of International Education. An additional 12,000 Mexicans, including teachers, are enrolled in various U.S. training programs, according to the Mexican government and the U.S. Commerce Department.

If the Mexican government succeeds in its goal of placing 100,000 students in U.S. schools, Mexico, currently ranked ninth among countries with students studying in the U.S., would trail only China and India.

“This is educational diplomacy,” said Maggie Hug, coordinator of the program for the State Department. “A fundamental connection is needed for global competition and to create a 21st-century workforce on both sides of the border. Texas is front and center in this effort.”

Helping transform Mexico

Indeed, the spotlight shines particularly bright on Texas institutions, community colleges and technical schools in helping to transform Mexico from a low-wage country into a more solidly middle-class one with wider opportunities.

Despite sometimes cool relations between Texas and Mexico on a government level, 43.9 percent of the Mexican students in the U.S. are enrolled at Texas institutions, followed by California with 8.5 percent, according to the Institute of International Education.

Three of the top institutions are Texas universities and community colleges, led by the University of Texas at El Paso, or UTEP, where Mexican students often rise to leadership positions in student organizations.

“These experiences, which bond Mexican students to UTEP and to their fellow UTEP students, often lead to lifetime cross-border professional and personal relations,” said UTEP President Diana Natalicio. “The economies of the two large cities [El Paso and Ciudad Juárez] are deeply interdependent and will become increasingly competitive as more young people on both sides of the border are afforded high-quality postsecondary education opportunities.”

Certain Texas institutions extend in-state tuition to Mexican students and provide other forms of tuition assistance — a big part of the draw for Texas schools. Yet China still leads the way in sending foreign students to the state, with 19.1 percent of the total, followed by India with 18.7 percent. Mexico is third with 9.7 percent of Texas’ foreign students.

The top local institutions include SMU, often favored by Mexico’s elite, as well as the University of Texas at Dallas, the University of Texas at Arlington and the University of North Texas, which for the past 15 years has developed a close relationship with the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México in Toluca, including a faculty exchange program.

The two institutions work toward training scientists, criminologists, musicians and journalists, although more Mexicans travel to the U.S. than Americans to Mexico.

How Mexico compares The share of Mexican immigrants in the U.S. is more than five times larger than that of any other country. But Mexico sends far fewer students to the U.S. for postsecondary education than China, India, South Korea and several other countries. Though small in number, the percentage of Mexicans studying in one of the highly prized STEM fields — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — is roughly similar to other top countries and 7 points higher than the 24 percent of U.S. undergraduates who earned STEM degrees, according to the U.S. Department of Education. Select a country below to compare. CHN IND KOR SAU CAN TWN JPN VNM BRA China India South Korea Saudi Arabia Canada Taiwan Japan Vietnam Brazil Student Immigrant STEM Students The number of students from each country studying in the U.S. during the 2013-14 academic year: Immigrants The number of immigrants from each country in the U.S. as of 2013: Mexico STEM students The percentage of each country’s students studying in the U.S. in STEM fields during the 2013-14 academic year: Migration Policy Institute SOURCES: Institute of International Education Jon McClure/Staff; Troy Oxford/Staff

Game changer

In short, Mexico wants to go from being seen as a giant platform for maquiladoras — assembly plants making products for export — to a society where people work not just with their hands but with their brains. Education represents the game changer.

“It’s not our goal to do economic development in Mexico,” said Warren W. Burggren, provost and vice president for academic affairs at the University of North Texas. “But it’s a lovely outcome.”

He added: “We train students, but we don’t want them to stay in the United States. We want them to go back to Mexico and make a difference.”

The depth of Texas’ role is measured at places like the University of Texas at Dallas. Like many institutions across the state, UT Dallas’ collaboration with Mexican institutions is vast and long-standing. More than 10 Mexican colleges are involved in exchange programs that allow Mexican students to intern or do research at UT Dallas.

“We train students, but we don’t want them to stay in the United States. We want them to go back to Mexico and make a difference.” Warren W. Burggren, provost and vice president for academic affairs at the University of North Texas

There are also collaborations between UT Dallas and Mexican government programs like CONACYT, Mexico’s National Council of Science and Technology, which is charged with promoting scientific and technological activities. The program grants scholarships for postgraduate studies, sometimes with the support of private employers in the U.S. and Mexico. There are 24 Mexican students — most of them at the graduate level — enrolled at UT Dallas for the spring semester, many in scientific and technological fields.

“In the end, this is about North America,” said Rodolfo Hernandez, senior adviser at the UT Dallas Center for U.S.-Latin America Initiatives, which has played a major role in organizing UT Dallas’ collaboration with Mexican institutions. “We need to learn how to understand our differences, challenge what we already understand and find answers or identify further questions for where we don’t have an understanding, for the future of North America.”

UT Dallas has granted 12 internships for Mexican students to do research in the STEM fields in Texas this summer. About 200 students applied for the 10-week program. UNT is expecting about 60 Mexican students over the summer to study English as a second language.