UNIVERSITIES
Mexican universities are focusing on cultivating not just good students but also productive citizens who are connected to society, both locally and internationally.
Service education is important to our university, and every university in Mexico has a requirement that students commit to 480 hours of social work. At our university, students do their social work in underprivileged communities because we want them to get out and experience the world outside their bubbles. The second time they get to experience the real world is through their internship or practical work, and the third is when they write their thesis. We are interested not only in academic excellence but also in training young people to become deeply involved citizens. This is one of our principal roles in Mexico's higher education. Another is to be leaders in the private education sector insofar as other private institutions look to us as an icon. We want them to be equally inspired by our model, which is a specifically Catholic model. We train our students to be future decision makers of major companies, institutions, non-profits, NGOs, and governments globally.
The model currently used by Latin American business schools is not sustainable. Right now, universities and educational institutions are out of touch with the needs of the market. Students learn from teachers and try to apply what they learn in their companies, but in reality the things learned are no longer applicable. The Universidad Panamericana is integrated with the broader economy and society, and accomplishing this by encouraging dialogue with the private sector, finding out what skills are needed, and placing students in their second and third years into work placements. There are Triple Helix projects in sectors such as energy and law that require the public, private, and educational sector to create collaborative projects. We have research in medicine, projects with law initiatives and regulations in the law school, in addition to projects with public politics in the school of government and economics.
We are located in seven states in Mexico, with 11 campuses. Our mission is to integrate education with values, culture, universal vision, finding a reason for living, and the transcendence of work. For us, offering education is an opportunity to get close to youth and give them vital motivation. The six values that we encourage through our study programs are perseverance, justice, respect, honesty, solidarity, and loyalty. We do not want our students to come through UNIVA only to get a degree. In addition, we are making efforts to ensure our students are successful in their future employment. We have adjusted our academic programs to the realities of the labor market. In 2017, we held a conference with businessmen to strengthen our links. We have a council of businessmen that helps us revise our study programs.
We initiated the transformation of U-ERRE after a year of conceptualization and innovation process with a group of experts. We determined that the concept of university since the 1950s had already died; today, knowledge is a commodity and is found everywhere, due to advanced technology. That is why a university has to evolve. The most important thing about knowledge is its practical application. Therefore, the classroom must evolve into a laboratory and must be open to society. We have to develop a set of skills in our students for them to grow and flourish in life and to be able to adapt to change. Students require a particular space and architecture for them to practice these skills, and we have it. We also want our students to graduate with a geometrical thinking, because in the past the world moved in a linear way. At the end of the day, what a university needs to succeed in is to build citizenship.
The trajectory of ISEC is marked by an objective to have a constant relevance in business. The essence of ISEC has always been to ensure a true professional practice through educators with expertise and experience in their areas. The gap between the classroom and real professional life is in fact real practice and real information and is aimed at decision-makers. ISEC does not develop executives, but entrepreneurs; people with a vision to start a business. This is based on three important factors: dignifying people and considering intellectual capital as the most important part of a company; generating results; and maximizing the wealth of companies. These have always been the guiding principles of ISEC. For the next year, we will revolutionize the curricula. We want to break with the traditional model that begins with the history of each subject. We will have specialized models that will make a student capable of adapting to the forefront of business.
One achievement is to maintain the successful programs of previous administrations and consolidate them. The other one is to apply my plans and ideas, like increasing the number of students but maintaining the quality. We increased the number of students by 30% in the past eight years, not just for the sake of increasing this figure, but where it was pertinent, ensuring they will have access to jobs after graduating. This number increased in engineering and in biology in particular. We also opened up spaces in health, to ensure we meet the country´s needs. We can do this through education, generating a more equal economic development. We need to grow but with regulation. We need to develop doctors, engineers and accountants; however, we are also forming citizens. Furthermore, we can develop a strong, solid, education sector working to help the country's development, and for that it is necessary to be linked to other countries both with the private and public sectors.
Our development project has several aspects. One of them is to diversify educational offerings with a multimodal perspective to extend the educational model outside of the classroom. We want to focus on the educational programs that society demands. We must not only open more programs but also diversify our existing programs. An attorney must not only know the law, he must also know other fields of knowledge. We are in a process of educational openness to adapt to change of profession at any moment of its life. What is important is that the program allows the student to move from their base of discipline into other fields of knowledge and that allow him to have the tools to develop in a diverse and changing world. We must strengthen strategic alliances with other universities, companies, and the government so that the student body has a formation closer to reality. With regard to international education offerings, our idea of international is better described as intercultural.
In Mexico, 10-15% of higher education is online and the segment is experiencing double-digit growth. We are growing our student numbers and this is our first goal. We would like to see UTEL engaged with more companies. We believe we can create more value if we have more partnerships with companies that can provide content. We see ourselves as a channel for delivering the knowledge that is within those companies. Mexico is a hub for Central and South American countries, and we have plans to deliver our education in Colombia, Peru, and other places. The other focus is we help traditional universities to digitize. We act as a back office for traditional universities that want to go online but do not have the capability or knowledge to do this. We create curriculum for them, train their faculty, provide the platform and student support systems, and operate it all on their behalf. We do this for 10 Mexican universities.
UNIVERSITIES
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Interview
Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary , UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)
TBY talks to Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on Mexico's structural reforms in line with the 2030 Agenda and maintaining consistent growth.
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Frederic García, President, Consejo Ejecutivo de Empresas Globales (CEEG)
TBY talks to Frederic García, President of Consejo Ejecutivo de Empresas Globales (CEEG), on making Mexico a more attractive FDI destination and promoting growth and development in the South and Southeast.
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Dr. Enrique Cabrero Mendoza, Director General, National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT)
TBY talks to Dr. Enrique Cabrero Mendoza, Director General of National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT), on investing more in science, technology, and innovation and positioning Mexico as a knowledge economy.
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Sergio Ayala, General Manager, GIFAN
TBY talks to Sergio Ayala & Alberto Rementeria, Directors of GIFAN, on identifying and capturing niche markets in Mexico, importing healthy and profitable solutions in the food industry, and working with forward-thinking, medium-sized companies.
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Carlos Morales Paulín, Country Manager, Telefónica
TBY talks to Carlos Morales Paulín, Country Manager of Telefónica, on how to provide the best customer service on the market, an ultra-competitive suite of products, and forcing the competition to improve customer standards in the process.
read articleFocus: Digital Television Transition
Digitalizati-ON!
Starting with the first analog blackout in Tijuana, Baja California in June 2013, Mexico has achieved an effective national transition to digital television. According to data from the Federal Telecommunications Institute, 95% of the population benefits nowadays from digital terrestrial television (DTT).
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