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This International Education Week (November 13-17), the United States and Mexico can celebrate our excellent cooperation in enhancing the opportunities of our young people. In today’s world, success depends on what you know. Without educational opportunities, made possible by strong commitments by the young people themselves, their parents, and all levels of society and government, our collective future will fall short of its bright potential.
Every year, the U.S. proudly welcomes students from around the world. For example, Mexican President-Elect Calderon attended a prominent U.S. university several years ago. Having himself been a student abroad, I can only imagine that President-Elect Calderon recognizes the value of international education and is committed to creating better educational opportunities both here in Mexico and through educational programs for Mexicans in other countries.
Young Americans are increasingly traveling abroad to expand their educational horizons. Mexico is the number six country for Americans studying abroad, and their top choice in Latin America.
The number of Mexican students in the United States increased by nearly seven percent last year. Mexico is the number seven country world-wide in the number of students it sends to study in the United States, with 13,931 students in the current academic year, representing 2.5% of the total number of foreign students in the U.S.
Mexican enrollments increased in Texas and California, the two states that now host half of the entire Mexican student population. Our geographic proximity, with a large and growing population along the border, stimulates Mexican students to study at U.S. institutions in the border region, and I am especially pleased they can take advantage of that opportunity. In many instances, these students are charged only in-state tuition and are able to cross the border every day, saving room and board.
To encourage more people to study in the U.S., our Embassy offers professional educational advising services at the Benjamin Franklin Library in Mexico City as well as in 13 other centers across the country. Despite rumors to the contrary, it is not more difficult than before to obtain a student visa. In fact, our Embassy and consulates in Mexico issued 8,737 new student visas last year. There are no limits to the number of student visas we can issue, and every qualified student is welcome to apply.
There are thousands of universities and educational institutions in the U.S. that offer excellent exchange opportunities. At Embassy Mexico, our broad “EducationUSA” team – made up of Commerce Department, State Department, Institute of International Education, and U.S.-Mexico Education Commission (Comexus or Fulbright Commission) – actively promotes study in the United States by organizing education fairs and university information events.
Comexus, which is jointly funded by the U.S. and Mexican governments, has awarded over 5,000 scholarships for study, research, and teaching in both the United States and Mexico since its founding in 1990. These scholars represent some of the best and brightest of both our countries.
Another unique program is the Binational Business program through which recent graduates from MBA programs in the United States are placed for an academic year with Mexican businesses. This opportunity provides the recent graduates with important practical experience in how businesses in Latin America work.
The U.S. and Mexico obviously have an increasingly intertwined future, and we must remain deeply committed to bettering that future. Education is essential to the personal growth of our individual citizens, to accelerating the expansion and competitiveness of our economies, and to reducing poverty in our region. Surely, there is no more important investment we can make in our future than providing our young people with the opportunity to learn.
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