A Gateway to Binational Collaboration. Internationalization for the benefit of the University Community

One of the main tasks of UNAM’s Extension Schools abroad is to extend strategic links with prestigious higher education institutions (HEIs) in their area. UNAM San Antonio, since its creation in 1944, prioritized this work and consolidated itself as an entity supported by its genuine collaboration with Texas’ most important universities. All this corresponds to the university tradition that has distinguished UNAM in other countries. It involves educational cooperation with the international community, emphasizing those nations where Mexicans have a deep-rooted presence. Such is the case of San Antonio, but also of Los Angeles, Tucson, or Chicago—in the geographical extreme points of country, where Mexican nationals are positioned as a growing population segment and demand attention for their better performance and social integration.

However, Mexicans are not only recognized for their extraordinary performance at work. The genius and goodwill of young university students were recently acknowledged in Stuttgart, Germany, during the Mission Enterprise: Mexico, 2023 meeting, where UNAM reaffirmed its interest in promoting international collaboration and entrepreneurship networks through projects that offer solutions to common problems and strengthening the intercultural experience among people (DGCS, 2023).

UNAM has nearly a thousand general academic collaboration or cooperation agreements with universities worldwide. Among the leading HEIs from the United States that have at least one agreement are the Universities of Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Florida, Oregon, South Carolina-Aiken, Washington, and Miami; also Harvard, Yale, and Boston Universities, the State Universities of Arizona and Michigan, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and New England Law.

Meanwhile, UNAM San Antonio has strengthened its ties with the University of Texas and its campuses in Austin, San Antonio, and El Paso, as well as with the University of North Texas, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and, of course, Texas A&M International University (TAMIU). On July 19, 2022, agreements were signed with this HEI and with Laredo College, receiving the support of the UNAM’s Faculty of Law and of the Consulate General of Mexico in Laredo, Texas, which have supported Mexican nationals through the IMEScholarships program of the Institute for Mexicans Abroad (Mendoza Sánchez, 2023).

Throughout 2023, UNAM San Antonio has honored this agreement to exchange knowledge, information, studies, and research. An example of this was the presentation of the book Misión consular en Laredo (Consular Mission in Laredo) by Ambassador Juan Carlos Mendoza Sánchez, Consul General of Mexico in Laredo, published by our University Extension School and presented at the Sue & Radcliffe Killam Library Colonnade in TAMIU, as part of the Cinco de Mayo commemoration in the United States (Charur, 2023).

These steps towards consolidating our collaboration with HEIs in the United States have laid the groundwork for future work that will explain the interest and importance of these interactions for both countries. Whether through the agreements established in July 2022 or the presentation of the book last May, the intention to strengthen understanding and awareness of legal, political, and human rights issues in an area of such a unique nature as the border between Mexico and the United States is endorsed (“EEUU y México exponen…”, 2023).

UNAM SAN ANTONIO AND ST. MARY’S UNIVERSITY
The collaborative spirit of UNAM San Antonio in Texas has emphasized and promoted the celebration of agreements with local institutions to benefit the Mexican community settled in this city. To this end, it has had the support of UNAM’s institutes and faculties, which have provided advice and academics to bring to fruition the results of the meetings and collaborations between the extension school and its academic allies.

At the beginning of this year, UNAM San Antonio finalized another proposal with the Faculty of Law and the Ibero-American Institute of Constitutional Law to offer the Diploma in Comparative Constitutional Law of the United States with Mexico and other Latin American countries, taught by experts from several countries, coordinated by the Support Program for Mexicans Abroad (PAME) for seven months starting February 3 and ending on September 30 of this year.

Following the above, our office invited the Faculty of Law to join the conversations with TAMIU and St. Mary’s University to reach academic collaboration agreements to promote student and faculty exchanges between these entities and UNAM. Thus, on February 23, the director of UNAM’s Faculty of Law, Raúl Contreras, visited the facilities of St. Mary’s University to join the previously initiated agreements.

Patricia Roberts, the tenth dean of St. Mary’s School of Law since June 1, 2020, visited Professor Contreras back and met with members of our university’s Faculty of Law on March 22. An agreement was finally reached there, committing the parties to build ties that allow teaching, research, and faculty advancement. The parties will also work with the Faculty of Law and its staff to nurture each other, generate academic strategies, and contribute to the success of students who join this agreement. In the same vein, Professor Jennifer Stevenson from St. Mary’s University gave a lecture to 300 students of the Faculty on the 24^th of that same month. On this occasion, Stevenson gave an introductory overview of U.S. law, approached the method of teaching law used in U.S. universities, and opened the possibility that a virtual course on immigration law in force in the United States will be offered.

As can be seen, these collaborations synchronize with the most relevant events involving the analysis of the U.S.-Mexico relationship, a diplomatic link that is 200 years old and that UNAM San Antonio (Campbell Peña, 2022) is also commemorating through the presentation of works produced by the Center for Research on North America (CISAN) (“Conocimiento de vanguardia en CISAN…”, 2023). The possibility of analyzing immigration legal issues is motivated by the changes brought about by the end of the coronavirus asylum restrictions that forced the United States to deport hundreds of migrants via the southern border over the past three years. These restrictions, known as Title 42, originated in a law dating back to 1944 that allowed migration to be curbed to protect public health (Sullivan, 2023).

Title 42 began in March 2020 during the administration of President Donald Trump. It empowered U.S. officials to turn away migrants arriving at the southern border to prevent the spread of COVID-19. President Joe Biden kept it in place after taking office and for three more years until he finally succeeded in eliminating it last May 11, a month after the United States declared the end of the health emergency caused by the pandemic. Therefore, academic collaboration and exchange of perspectives on migration issues between our entities are essential to understand how specific legislation can condition bilateral relations.

To foster this understanding, the collaboration agreement between UNAM and St. Mary’s University contemplates the exchange of faculty members for short periods and the participation in events where this crossing of visions becomes effective. Consequently, and to effectively comply with the agreements reached, UNAM San Antonio will soon receive a group of students from the Faculty of Law to introduce them to the American legal system and its relationship with these issues of particular relevance for our institutions and our countries.

The agreement highlights the point known as the 4+1 LLM Program. This program’s formulation states that to provide international opportunities for UNAM students, they may enroll full-time in the Master of Laws (LLM) Program at St. Mary’s University School of Law. After completing four of the five years contemplated in the Law degree curriculum at UNAM, the student will be able to complete their fifth year at St. Mary’s University School of Law, obtaining a law degree from UNAM and a master’s degree from St. Mary’s University School of Law.

As can be expected, this attractive educational offer has some requirements that must be fully met, such as being duly enrolled at UNAM, having a minimum grade average of 8.5, having proficient English language skills, and completing a virtual interview in English with members of the administration, faculty, or staff at St. Mary’s University School of Law.

Applicants to this program will be tested and prescreened by UNAM, The deadline for applications and all supporting documentation at St. Mary’s University will be October 1, 2023, for spring start and April 1, 2024, for fall start in 2024.

Students admitted to the Master of Laws of the 4+1 LLM Program will receive an unconditional offer of admission to complete the necessary procedures to apply for a U.S. student visa. Moreover, they will benefit from a 40 percent tuition reduction scholarship for their year at St. Mary’s University. It is worth noting that that university was recently awarded the College of Distinction prize for the 2023-2024 academic year, which analyzed student participation, teaching, community, and the results of this rigorous teaching in the academic and labor field in the United States. The College of Distinction program includes all the United States, and yearly lists of the best schools according to their performance are published.

The agreement signed between St. Mary’s University and UNAM through the Faculty of Law and UNAM San Antonio is valid for five years and may be renewed by mutual agreement of the institutions. It should be added that the Extension School in San Antonio will accompany UNAM students during the registration process and their stay in the city. Therefore, we encourage all interested parties to promptly follow this invitation that opens new spaces for Mexican university students. Undoubtedly, these opportunities are of great relevance in the legal field by expanding the possibilities for students of UNAM’s Faculty of Law, which was recently ranked, the third year in a row, as the best law school in Latin America and one of the best in the world according to QS World University Rankings.

INTERNATIONALIST COMMITMENT
With these examples, UNAM San Antonio joins UNAM’s vocation and responsibility to study, analyze, and propose solutions to national problems. A better understanding of the legal systems of the United States and Mexico contributes to building a better bilateral relationship, which should also translate into a strengthening of the social conviction of the rule of law, which is today challenged in different ways in these two great nations.

UNAM San Antonio promotes the internationalization of UNAM’s academic entities. It creates real opportunities for cooperation with prestigious foreign institutions, develops higher education programs for UNAM students, and signs the necessary agreements resulting in the implementation of academic collaboration and student exchange programs such as the one we have achieved with St. Mary’s University, all for the benefit of the university community.

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