AUSTIN, Texas -- Inspired by - the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), community colleges throughout the Southwest are developing curricula catering to a growing number of students seeking careers linked to hemispheric trade.
School officials in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas say the increasing integration of the North American economies have provided a new sense of urgency to efforts to expand ties with Mexico.
The rush for cross-border collaboration -- exchange programs, sabbaticals, cultural tours and enhanced foreign language programs has a distinct, trade-oriented spin.
Dr. David Pierce, president of the American Association of Community Colleges, says schools believe that the term "community" -- mentioned in most schools' mission statements -- no longer should be defined in a narrow, geographic context.
"Not only are local communities composed of growing numbers of immigrants," he writes in a recent report on burgeoning international programs, "but also the economies of these communities are increasingly dependent on effective relationships with other countries."
San Diego Community College District Chancellor Augie Gallego recently returned from meetings in Mexico with university officials interested in expanding exchange programs.
"We cannot simply mouth the words globalization and internationalization of education," Gallego says "We need to see it, touch it, and do whatever we can to promote it."
San Diego, for example, sends faculty to Guanajuato, Mexico, where they teach Mexican university instructors about the latest technological and educational advancements in their respective fields.
While sending its faculty to Mexico helps improve the educational system there, Gallego says the program goes a long way toward "demystifying and dispelling myths about the people Mexico."
Says Dr. Nanette Pascal, director of the International Language Institute at Richmond College in the Dallas County Community College District: "When NAFTA came along, our program really began to grow."
