At the IFE Conference at the Tecnologico de Monterrey campus in northern Mexico, three experts in the field of HE discussed how the field could improve the country’s standing in education. 

Bernardo González Aréchiga, rector at the Universidad del Valle de Mexico, noted that the country is “on the route to a growing gap”. The country’s indigenous population with education stands at only 5%, for example, something he viewed as a “very serious situation”. 

“The main concern here is the presence of universities and the difficulty in updating academic programs,” he noted. 

“This is in a country that has tremendous need for coverage from an educational standpoint, and at the moment, we have limitations,” he continued. 

Some students are being driven by safety concerns to study abroad to make sure they get the education they are looking for.

The pace of change to rectify that lack of coverage at home, however, is something that the executive secretary general for the National Association of Universities and Higher Education Institutions said needs to be measured 

“There has been a debate on whether in order to increase the coverage, is it necessary to have new universities,” Luiz Armando González Placencia urged. 

“I believe it has to be discussed at a slower pace. The experiences we’ve had in most recent years are an example, but more universities do not necessarily equal more opportunities to study. 

“We must instead improve the ones that exist at this time.” 

It was also argued that HE is not necessarily the first answer in widening access to education. Especially relating to the skills gap in Mexico, with María Teresa Nicolás Gavilán, director of the Institutional Centre of Educational Innovation at the Universidad Panamericana, suggesting quicker upskilling was the answer. 

“It’s fundamental for us to have reskilling in basic skills. The demand of which in many related sub-sectors is not necessarily as well covered by universities. 

“We have many doctors and lawyers, but we need people who are trained in those in-need skills,” Gavilán said. 

“We must instead improve the universities that exist at this time”

Something that Aréchiga said remains unresolved is student completion rates and retention.

“The common denominator in Mexican HE is not to lose students. How can we promote student persistence and seek to reduce dropouts? There is a whole culture needed for advancing this issue.”