The importance of student mobility, academic exchange and

internationalization of higher education for college students in a globalized

world: the Mexican and Latin American case

Authors:Dr. José Barragán Codina , Professor

Ruben H. Leal López, Graduate StudentBusiness School,

Autonomous University of Nuevo León, Mexico

Includes policies and practices undertaken by academic systems, institutions and even individuals to cope with the global academic environment.

Internationalization

- Branch Campuses.- Cross-border collaborative arrangements.- Programs for international students.- Language programs.

- Commercial Advantage.- Knowledge and language acquisition.- Enhancing the curriculum.- Financial income.

Motivations Initiatives

In Canada, international student expenditure on tuition, accommodation and living expenses contributed more than $ 8 billion CAD to the economy in 2010.

This amount is greater than total of the Canadian exports of unwrought aluminum (CAD 6 billion) or Helicopters, Airplanes and Spacecraft in 2012.

• Between 2000 and 2011, the number of international students has more than doubled.

• 4.5 million tertiary students are enrolled outside their country of citizenship.

• The largest numbers of international students are from China, India and Korea.

• Asian students account for 53% of all students studying abroad worldwide.

• New players have emerged on the international education market in the past decades: Australia, New Zealand, Spain, the Russian Federation and Korea.

• The share of international students in some of the most attractive countries like Germany and the United States has declined.

• The competition to attract and retain students has diversified the map of destinations over the past decade.

How is international student mobility shaping up?

Top Countries of Origin of foreign students. (2011)

Student Mobility in Mexico

o In 1970 with a population of 48.2 million; Mexican universities had 212,000 students, and In just ten years, the general population grew to 66 million and the student population to 730,000.

o This unregulated expansion forced many institutions to recruit massive amounts of teachers without suitable training.

o 1983 Crisis(external debt) .- The government priority was to control inflation, leaving the same level of budget in higher education.

o 1993 Mexico, USA and Canada signed the NAFTA and Mexico joined the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 1994 .

o In 2000; Mexico had 97.5 million inhabitants and more than 2 million students attending classes in higher education institutions.

o During 90’s; the need of a higher quality standard for higher education became stronger.

Background

Source: Ministry of Education – Mexico

• Undergraduate student mobility in Mexico is relatively recent(Since 90´s), It represents just the1% of all international OECD students.

• Despite there is a National Council for Science and Technology in Mexico (CONACY) which promotes research and development by the internationalization; The environment for mobility is weak because of limited investment in Research and Development that keeps being under the average of the OECD standards.

• Mexico invest 0.43% of GDP and the average in Latin America is 0.58% while the OECD is 2.21%. Mexico and Peru occupy the last two places in research

and development investment.

Students Mobility in Mexico

The OECD indicators to measure de human resources readiness are:

• Strength and Quality of Education.

• Creativity and innovation

• Production and dissemination of the knowledge.

The first 5 places : Japan, Hong Kong, China, Korea, Finland and Canada.

The last 8 places include 5 Latin American countries.

Latin America, The global perspective

Outgoing International Students in Mexico by Region

Europe; 53%

Asia; 5%

North America; 22%

South America;

11%

Oceania; 4%

Central America and the Car-ibbean; 1%

Incoming International Students in Mexico by Region

Europe, 48%

Asia; 7%

North America; 18%

South Amer-ica; 15%

Oceania; 3%

Central America and the Car-ibbean; 3%

United States: The favorite destination of Mexican Students

YearMexican Students

in the U.S.A

American Students in

Mexico

1996/97 8,975 6,685

1997/98 9,559 7,574

1998/99 8,975 7,363

1999/00 10,607 7,374

2000/01 10,670 8,360

2001/02 12,518 8,078

2002/03 12,801 8,775

2003/04 13,329 9,293

2004/05 13,063 9,247

2005/06 13,931 10,022

2006/07 13,826 9,461

2007/08 14,837 9,963

2008/09 14,850 7,320

2009/10 13,450 7,157

2010/11 13,713  

*Source: Annual National Survey “Patlani” 1st Edition, Period 2010-2011.

Incoming Mobility by Type of Institution

Private Univer-sities; 62.67%

Public Univer-sities; 32.13%

Polytechnic Universities; 0.03%Technological Universities; 0.49%Technological Institutes; 1.71%State Universities; 0.26%

Private Universi-

ties; 66.52%

Public Univer-sities; 25.83%Polytechnic

Universi-ties, 0.

02%

Technolog-ical Uni-versities;

2.17%

Technological Institutes; 3.24% State Universities; 2.04%

Outgoing Mobility by Type of Institution

The OECD Education at a Glance Report

Country

% of Mexican Students in International Mobility / Total of Mexican students in specific

country.

% of Mexican Students in International Mobility / Total of international

students in specific country.

United States 47.6 2.2Spain 15.2 5.9

Canada 6.3 1.2France 6 0.7

Germany 5.2 0.8England 4.3 0.4Australia 1.6 0.2

Italy 1 0.5Switzerland 0.7 0.6Netherlands 0.6 0.2

Chile 0.5 2.6Sweden 0.5 0.6Japan 0.5 0.1

Finland 0.3 0.7New Zeland 0.3 0.2

Austria 0.3 0.2Belgic 0.3 0.1

Denmark 0.2 0.4Norway 0.2 0.3Ireland 0.1 0.2

Portugal 0.1 0.2Poland 0.1 0.1

Other OECD Countries 0.2 0.7

Total OECD 92.1 1

• Latin American universities enter to the XXI century with nineteenth century problems. Tünnermann C. (1998)

Educational model is characterized by:

- Rigid curriculum

- Local and national perspective

- Poor interaction with business and society

- Slow response to market demands

- Small Development of research

- Important high school dropout

- Insufficient infrastructure of laboratories and libraries.

- Limited second language skills

- Low level of multicultural knowledge

- Lack of professors professionalization

Latin America Governments Challenges.

Universities should create 4 key functions:

UNESCO Delors Report, Educational Proposal:

1. Prepare students for research and teaching.

2. Provide highly specialized training courses adapted to the needs of economic and social life.

3. To be open to all to cater for the many aspects of lifelong education in the widest sense.

4. International co-operation.

Awareness of human rights combined with a sense of social responsibilities

Value of social equity and democratic participation

Understanding and tolerance of cultural differences and pluralism

A spirit of caring

Co-operative spirit

Enterprising spirit,

Creativity

Sensitivity to gender equality

Open-mindedness to change

Sense of obligation to environment protection and sustainable development

Values to be cultivated:

International Stutent Profile should include:

• Ability to manage new communication technologies.

• Creativity to generate ideas and knowledge.

• Multiculturalism values and language knowledge.

• Negotiation Skills and Team-work orientation.

• Ethical

• Resilience

• Pro-activity, planning and forecasting trends.

• Think globally, act locally.

Mexico and Latin American countries have an important lag in their education systems for that reason it is imperative to internationalize education by:

• Training students for the challenges and trends of the global community.

Adopt the optimal institutional structure for language study. Provide upper-level study in a broad spectrum of cultures.

• Develop innovative and creative approaches to overcome the current status of its higher education system.

Provide funding and credit for language studies, international exchanges and research.

Enhance infrastructure to support international programs and services.

• Adopting strategies through international alliences.

• Implementing the guidance proposed by UNESCO. (Delors Report)

Conclusions

Questions?

Thank you for your attention.

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