The World at Home. UNAM International University Offices Unit

Important international universities have responded affirmatively to UNAM’s invitation to establish a representative office in our University City. The following pages are the outcome of short interviews conducted by UNAM Internacional with various offices in the International University Offices Unit (UISU) to learn about their collaboration objectives with UNAM. The interviews also covered their services, cooperation offers, international academic exchange opportunities, and work experiences connecting their students and experts with our academic entities and university community. The questions were:

• What does it mean for your university to have a representation in Mexico, specifically at UNAM?
• What does UNAM contribute to your university through this collaboration?
• Can you mention the most relevant collaboration project or process between UNAM and your institution?

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN, UNITED STATES
Being at and collaborating with UNAM offers the University of Texas at Austin the opportunity to work with the most prominent university in Latin America. UNAM is an institution with which UT-Austin has had an intense collaboration for many years. At UT-Austin, many professors and researchers are taught at UNAM, and currently, there are significant collaboration networks between both institutions. In addition, prominent UT-Austin alumni have been students or are now professors or researchers at UNAM.

In 2022, the Mexico Global Gateway was established, enabling us to communicate more smoothly with those collaborating on meaningful projects with us. For example, we have been invited to be the guests of honor at the 5th edition of the International University Book Fair (FILUNI). This activity triggered a cascade of opportunities to further strengthen our exchanges. FILUNI is a door that has been opened for us to access the great UNAM community.

Collaborating with UNAM opens many possibilities for our academics, researchers, professors, collaborators, and students. At UT-Austin, more than 250 academics are studying Mexico. They are in colleges, schools, research centers, museums, theaters, and laboratories.

In 2022, the Texas Global office focused on enhancing our involvement in FILUNI 2023 alongside the UNAM publishing team. This close collaboration could be seen in a comprehensive program and a strong delegation of over 110 individuals traveling to Mexico to participate in various fair activities. In addition, the delegation took advantage of its stay in Mexico to visit UNAM and strengthen collaborations, reconnect with colleagues, and explore new opportunities. During the planning stage, the Texas Global team traveled three times to Mexico to ensure they were prepared and able to fully take advantage of the opportunity to have the management team of the university, including the president and other authorities, as well as researchers, professors, administrators, students, and creators, present at UNAM. We are very proud of the program for the fair, which showcases the great diversity of talent at UT-Austin, and it was very exciting to be with the great UNAM community at FILUNI.
BEIJING FOREIGN STUDIES UNIVERSITY, CHINA
The Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) office at UNAM was established in 2017. It is the only BFSU office in the Latin American region.

The office at UNAM serves as a platform and administrative entity for academic cooperation, student recruitment, and academic resource support between BFSU and the most prestigious educational institution in Mexico: UNAM. Meanwhile, this office has enabled BFSU’s publishing house, the Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, to successfully develop the copyright sales of our books in the Latin American region.

The UISU team has provided us with efficient, professional support for our collaboration. Professor Francisco Trigo has led the International Head Office (CRAI) team in promoting and coordinating a strategic alliance between UNAM and other international HEIs, such as BFSU. This alliance aims to strengthen ties and explore opportunities for collaboration that will benefit both universities and expand their cooperation.

The most relevant projects in our association are the joint building of a master’s program in Latin American Studies, the exchange of students, and soon the signing of an agreement to establish the UNAM-BFSU Chair.
 
INDIANA UNIVERSITY, UNITED STATES
The Indiana University (IU) Mexico Gateway’s main objective is to liaise faculty, students, and staff with various opportunities in Mexico, Latin America, and the Caribbean. This means establishing partnerships with universities, institutes, non-governmental organizations, and government entities for research, conferences, workshops, and exchanges. Being in University City has brought us significantly closer to this objective since we have organized multiple activities and established relationships with different entities of this great university. In addition, UNAM has always supported us in each of the events and activities we have developed throughout these five years. This is a significant platform for us in the process of increasing our ties with other universities in the region.

UNAM has influential personalities who improve with their contributions to each of the programs we have developed together. The range of networking opportunities this collaboration offers is broad, allowing us to work with different academic levels at UNAM. With the Colleges of Science and Humanities (CCH), we have reached out to high school students by conducting workshops on various topics taught by IU professors and graduates living in Mexico. We were fortunate to develop a face-to-face event at Humanities Tower 2, in University City, along with the Center for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CIALC), UNAM’s Office in Chicago, and the Graduate Program in Latin American Studies Head Office. Our Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) also participated on behalf of the IU. The activity was titled “Meeting on Migrations, Identities, and native peoples,” and academics from both universities presented 12 lectures.

Since its time as a National School, UNAM’s Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery (FENO) has collaborated with the IU School of Nursing (IUSON) in a virtual program for several editions. In February 2023, it was possible to establish a face-to-face liaison in which UNAM received a delegation from IUSON and vice versa. This liaison will lead to future collaborations in research and other programs.

Collaboration between our universities has created the Global Consortium on Juvenile Delinquency & Prevention. In May 2023, Theresa Ochoa and Nikki Weller, professors and researchers at IU, collaborated with Berenice Pérez-Ramírez and Ángela Hernández Méndez, professors at UNAM’s National School of Social Work (ENTS). They organized a face-to-face event that brought universities from five countries together. The event’s purpose was to discuss and compare, from an international perspective, issues such as juvenile delinquency and the legal frameworks of each participating country.

We have collaborated on several very relevant projects with UNAM in recent years. One of them, developed over the past three years, in which the Sorbonne Université of France also participates, began with webinars that have brought together hundreds of teachers and students from our respective universities and the general public. Topics have ranged from great inventions that have changed the world, challenges facing our societies, language and global citizenship to an exciting discussion with 1992 Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú.

The most recent event, the first to be held faceto-face, occurred at the UNAM Humanities Head Office to answer “Does Latin American music really exist? Reflections on contemporary classical music.” It was a panel of music experts.

Throughout these three years, we have had the participation of almost 40 academics from the three universities and more than 700 attendees from more than 30 countries.
UNIVERSITY OF GRONINGEN, THE NETHERLANDS
According to the objectives of our strategic alliance, our presence at UNAM represents opportunities for co-directed doctorates, co-funding for joint projects, the conversion of short mobility into longterm mobility, opportunities to create academic ties and visibility for both universities and their strategic alliance.

Thanks to our partnership with UNAM, the University of Groningen can benefit from collaborative research projects and increase our presence in Mexico and Latin America. Additionally, we can connect with students from diverse backgrounds and work together on joint initiatives, with the possibility of co-financing for innovative educational projects. Groningen also links UNAM with networks we participate in, such as ENLIGHT+, Coimbra Group, and ERASMUS+.

The most relevant program of our collaboration is the double degree PhD program.