Story includes info on Juarez Mexico med school ($2600/semes

[azskeptic]

http://www.borderlandnews.com/storie...9-157371.shtml


U.S. students shun Juarez
Insecurity cited as big problem

Louie Gilot
El Paso Times


JUAREZ -- Each day, droves of Mexican college students cross the border to study in El Paso. But only a handful make the reverse trek, choosing to study in Juárez.

Despite a solid academic reputation, affordable tuition and degree accreditation in the United States, the higher education system in Juárez has failed to capture the attention of U.S. students.

Daniel Alvarez, a Juarense who chose to study Spanish philosophy and literature at UTEP, said the problem is more about the city than about the city's universities.

"Mexico has a very good education system, but in Juárez, it's not attractive," he said. "It has to do with the atmosphere of insecurity. It's like you wouldn't take a class in a dark alley in Downtown El Paso either."

The Autonomous University of Juárez, or UACJ, the public university that has 60 percent of all college students in Juárez, counts 16,200 students, compared with 18,500 students at UTEP. UACJ gets only about a dozen U.S. students each year, all in the university's medical school.

The second-largest campus in Juárez, that of Tecnológico de Monterrey, a private university with a countrywide network of campuses that is considered the top private business school in Latin America, has about 2,000 students. None are from the United States this year.

By contrast, about 1,700 UTEP students are from Mexico, a number that has remained steady despite recent tuition increases and new visa fees.

Cross-border studies are gaining momentum, and the U.S. Agency for International Development set aside $35 million to pair up American universities with Mexican ones for academic exchanges during the next six years. So far, 13 pairs have been created, none involving border universities.

UTEP students can take a few classes in Juárez, but the program hasn't been widely popular, university officials said.

Juárez university officials are trying to change the situation and to learn from their one success story, their medical school.

'A little gold mine'

Mario Villegas, 24, is in his second year at the the Facultad de Medicina, the medical school of the UACJ, across the Bridge of the Americas. Villegas is a U.S. citizen and lives in El Paso.

He chose to study medicine in Juárez because of proximity.

"It's a very convenient option. My family is close by. Being home and going to medical school is a great deal. It's the best choice I made. It's a little gold mine there," he said.

Villegas plans to practice in the United States.

Going to medical school in Juárez takes only seven years, instead of eight in the United States, and it costs less, about $2,600 a semester for a foreign student. Average medical school tuitions in the United States range from $8,000 a semester at public schools to $17,000 a semester at private schools. A semester at Texas Tech medical school costs $4,875, school officials said.

Going to school outside the United States may also make it harder to get a prestigious internship once the person is back in the United States, some graduates said.

Out of nearly 6,000 medical students who applied for residencies in the United States in 2001 after graduating from a foreign medical school, 22 percent were U.S. citizens returning home. They studied mostly in Mexico, according to the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates in Philadelphia.

Mexican diplomas in other fields are also getting accredited by U.S. institutions. Master's and doctoral degrees from the Tecnológico de Monterrey are accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, school officials said.

Working with industries

Since the 1980s, Mexican universities have redirected their teaching toward technical careers, especially focusing on engineering and business studies. That trend is particularly strong in Juárez, where the omnipresent maquiladora industry demands a steady stream of skilled workers and managers.

Officials at the Autonomous University of Juárez and Tecnológico de Monterrey, as well as a handful of smaller technical schools, said they aimed at molding workers for the local industry.

"If we can't offer the students work after they graduate, we don't offer the class," said Alicia Rodriguez Segovia, director of consumer behavior and image for Tecnológico de Monterrey.

Autonomous University of Juárez officials said that 85 percent of graduates get jobs within a year. An average of 54 percent of candidates are accepted.

At Tecnológico de Monterrey, students are heavily sponsored by local businesses that offer scholarships to 60 percent of the students, recruit graduates and build laboratories.

Delphi Corp., Juárez's largest auto parts maker that also operates the Delphi Technical Center with 2,500 Juárez engineers, has a co-op program at Tecnológico de Monterrey, where students are paid to test Delphi software.

Some of the co-op students at Delphi have been UTEP students using the opportunity as an internship.

"It's a win-win situation," said Albert Vega, the human resource manager at the technical center. "They get hands-on experience, we get our software tested, and we're preparing future Delphi workers."

Tecnológico de Monterrey also offers a master's program in international business administration in Juárez with Thunderbird, an elite management school in Phoenix.

A friendlier atmosphere

Officials at the Autonomous University of Juárez have a different idea to attract U.S. students: build a student-friendly campus town.

The 31-year-old university has a campus in Nuevo Casas Grandes, a small town 160 miles from El Paso that caters mostly to tourists visiting the pre-Columbian ruins of Paquimé. The small university campus has 360 students in consumer behavior, agro-industrial engineering, university studies, administration, social work and tourism.

But with three more buildings planned and added classes, the town could turn into a Las Cruces of sorts, said David Ramírez Perea, director of academic services. It wouldn't have the congested streets, lack of parking and bad image of the Juárez campuses.

"It would be a quiet place to study in, very pleasant," he said.

Business administration student Larissa Ramirez worked Monday on a portable computer at the Tecnológico de Monterrey in Juárez.

PERCENTAGE BREAKDOWN

STATE PERCENTAGE

Texas 50 percent

STATE PERCENTAGE

Illinois 20 percent

New York 10 percent

Puerto Rico 5 percent

HIGHER EDUCATION

State or territory of origin of the U.S. students at the Juárez medical school, the Facultad de Medicina:

The universities work on a semester basis, and the grading system is from 1 to 10, with 6 as the passing grade.


4 years of college gives a licenciatura degree.

2 more years gives a maestria degree.

2 more years gives a doctorado degree, for which oral examinations and a thesis are required.
BY THE NUMBERS


UACJ: 16,200 students and 19 foreign students, 16 of whom are from the United States. Tuition is $150 to $300 per semester for Mexican students and $1,400 to $2,400 for foreigners.

Tecnológico de Monterrey: 2,000 students and 10 to 15 foreign students, none from the United States. Tuition is about $4,200 per semester.

UTEP: 18,500 students, including over 2,000 foreign students, most of whom are from Mexico and pay in-state tuition. Tuition is $4,000 per semester for in-state students and $11,306 for out-of-state students.
Source: UACJ, Tecnológico de Monterrey and UTEP.

Louie Gilot may be reached at lgilot@elpasotimes.com, 546-6131.; For more information: www.uacj.mx and www.cdj.itesm.mx; Source: Facultad de Medicina de Juárez.; Source: The International Student Exchange Program, ISEP.