Press Releases 08
Educational Exchanges Are In Our Mutual Interest
Statement
by Ambassador Antonio O. Garza
Sectretary Spellings, Felipe Solis, Director of the National Museum of Anthropology, Amb. Garza |
Mexico City, June 13, 2008 - “Education is in the forefront
of our mutual interests – a direct and crucial link to the
future of both nations through the children and youth who
will be our next generations of leaders. Today I was pleased
to accompany Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings on
visits to an elementary school and to meetings with Mexican
government education officials.
“At the Estados Unidos de America school, dedicated in 1964
by Mexican President Adolfo Lopez-Mateos and Senator Robert
F. Kennedy to the memory of the late President John F. Kennedy,
Secretary Spellings met with students and teachers, and witnessed
5th and 6th grade classroom teaching. She also met with Assistant
Secretary of Foreign Affairs for North American Affairs, Carlos
Rico Ferrat, Director General of International Relations at
the Secretariat of Education, Carlos Garcia de Alba, Assistant
Secretary of Education for Basic Education, Fernando Gonzalez
Sanchez, and other key members of Mexico’s educational institutions
at the Mexican Secretariat of Education to discuss issues
of mutual interest.
“There are active educational exchange programs at many levels
between the United States and Mexico, with approximately 14,000
Mexican students in U.S. universities, and over 10,000 U.S.
university students here. A number of U.S. universities and
colleges already participate in exchange programs or are working
to recruit Mexican students to their campuses.
“I am proud that the U.S. government promotes vitally important
educational exchanges between students in our two nations.
For example, we work through the Institute of International
Education (IIE) to maintain educational advising centers,
open to the public throughout Mexico, to orient potential
students interested in study in the U.S.
Secretary Spellings and Amb. Garza toast the educational efforts of both countries before the Aztec Calendar at the National Museum of Anthropology. |
“Our USAID office has provided scholarships to almost 1,000
students from Mexico under its TIES (Training, Internships,
Exchanges and Scholarship) programs through 60 university
partnerships. USAID also funds one and two year technical
training programs in the U.S. for rural indigenous teachers
and youth.
Approximately 2,500 Mexican and American students and academics
have studied in the other country, funded by Fulbright-Garcia
Robles scholarships under the auspices of the binational COMEXUS
Foundation --300 this year alone. And since last October,
the State Department has provided professional English teaching
training to 1,000 Mexican teachers.
“We must continue to work together for the benefit of future
generations, bringing our two nations even closer through
educational exchanges.”
Please click here for a fact sheet on education |
