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McAllen, Texas, College, Mexican University Sign Exchange Deal

Posted on: Monday, 29 August 2005, 18:00 CDT

Aug. 27--McALLEN -- Officials from South Texas College and the Universidad de Monterrey signed a two-year agreement Friday, establishing a professor and student exchange program between the two organizations.

The program is expected to begin in summer 2006 and will allow students at STC and the Monterrey school to enroll at their local institution for classes without the cost normally associated with an exchange program.

The agreement culminates work begun by STC representative Mario Reyna, dean of the business, math and science division, in 2004, to find a "first-class" institution with which to form a partnership.

"What's the opportunity here?" Reyna rhetorically asked the crowd that witnessed the signing of the agreement. "We have an obligation to help our students understand the world they live in."

He illustrated what he meant by telling a story about a little frog that decided to leave his environment and discovered other frogs.

"By talking to each other, (the frogs) discovered they had a lot to learn," he said. "We are a young institution; we want our little frogs (students) to get out and talk to other little frogs and learn."

He added that the United States, Canada and Mexico need to work together or they stand to lose what they have economically to other countries.

To that end, the Universidad de Monterrey has a lot to offer STC's students.

The university offers advanced nursing, allied health, engineering, architecture, and civil, mechanical and computer engineering programs, said Ali Esmaeili, associate dean of the bachelor of applied technology program.

"We can work together to motivate our students toward those degrees," Esmaeili said.

The program will also benefit Universidad de Monterrey graduate students who must fulfill a foreign exchange program requirement before they graduate, said Rafael Garza Mendoza, vice president of academic affairs for the university, through an interpreter.

Garza-Mendoza added the faculty and students at both schools would benefit from their exposure to different environments and technology.

The program would offer students at STC the opportunity to earn degrees at both institutions, he said.

Officials at both schools also said they anticipated the agreement would lead to joint research projects between professors.

"One of our main goals for students is for them to become leaders in our community," Garza- Mendoza said. "To become a leader at our university means we are going to give them the skills they need."

The agreement between the two schools should benefit STC students because the university is a prestigious Catholic University, STC president Shirley Reed said.

"You know we have NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement) and CAFTA (the Central American Free Trade Agreement), and we need more agreements between Mexican and American institutions," Reed said.

Another benefit, she said, is both the university and STC are accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

"There are a lot of possibilities," Reed said. "Sometimes it takes a lot of time to get everyone together and working together; now it's just a case of identifying the programs," the two organizations will support.

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Copyright (c) 2005, The Monitor, McAllen, Texas

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Source: The Monitor (McAllen, Texas)

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