Alamo Colleges Lend Expertise to Development of New Bilingual University in Mexico
By: Kay Hendricks
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Tag: Web Archive
Dr. Bruce Leslie, Chancellor of Alamo Colleges, and Roberto Zárate, District 5 Trustee, met August 24 with high ranking officials from Mexico to begin a process of collaboration on developing a new bilingual university in Mexico. Joining Leslie for the planning session were Carlos Lozano de la Torre, Governor of the State of Aguascalientes and Héctor Arreola, General Coordinator of the Technical Universities for the Ministry of Education of Mexico.
Included in the meeting were Francisco Javier Chavez Rangel, Secretary of Education for the State of Aguascalientes and Jorge Armando Llamas, Rector of the Universidad Tecnológica de Aguascalientes. Also participating in the discussions wereFederico Zaragoza, Alamo Colleges’ Vice Chancellor for Economic and Workforce Development, Carol Fimmen, Director of the Office of International Programs, and other representatives from the Alamo Colleges.
During their meeting, Leslie, Lozano, Llamas and Zaragoza signed a letter of intent to formalize their agreement to establish a cooperative relationship and to strengthen the bonds of friendship between the Alamo Colleges and the Universidad Tecnológica Internacional El Retoño in Aguascalientes, the name of the first bilingual technical university in Mexico.
This collaboration offers the Alamo Colleges a unique opportunity to showcase their best practices, to share curriculum and to train faculty from Mexico. The initial phase in establishing the new university will include developing academic programs in business and information systems, advanced manufacturing and mechatronics. The plan for the university also includes establishing a language center to offer English and other languages and a Center of Excellence in the automotive areas. This is only one of the most recent successful collaborations between Alamo Colleges and higher education institutions in Mexico.
At the Alamo Colleges, high quality education and low costs provide exceptional value to students and alumni who are major contributors to the economy and culture of our community. For more information, visit our website at alamo.edu.