SAN ANTONIO – The University of Texas at San Antonio will serve as the home of the new UT System partnership with Mexico's National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT).
The move was announced in a press release Monday. The UT System Board of Regents has approved $5 million to advance its relationship with the council and offer new academic research exchange programs for the United States and Mexico. CONACYT will invest an initial $16.3 million in the project.
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UTSA expects to launch an office to oversee the UT System-CONACYT exchange programs in the fall and to begin recruiting and promoting the various programs. In 2017, the university will welcome the program's first doctoral students, postdoctoral fellows, faculty researchers and students from Mexico to UT System institutions.
“This is an incredible opportunity for collaboration between two exceptional organizations,” said UTSA President Ricardo Romo. “I believe that we are about to launch one of the most exciting educational student exchanges in the country. This agreement allows UTSA to be a key player in strengthening the ties between Texas and Mexico, and to support the bilateral agenda of these two countries.”
The UT System said the funding will support 30 Mexican doctoral students per year at UT System institutions; collaborative research projects designed to increase and enhance exchanges between faculty from UT institutions and Mexican universities; funding for nine postdoctoral fellows and six faculty fellows a year; and short fellowship visits by non-degree students.
Since 1982, CONACYT has supported 530 Mexican fellows at various UT System institutions, including 22 fellows at UTSA. Since 2012, it has supported approximately 35 new fellows each year.
UTSA currently has 26 exchange agreements with universities and organizations in Mexico.
“Mexico is more than just our friend,” UT System Chancellor William H. McRaven said, as he signed the agreement. “Each one of our academic and health institutions benefits from our proximity to and relationship with Mexico, and the same can be said of Texas itself. Our partnership with CONACYT is essential to building a knowledge exchange to make new discoveries in science, health care and technology.”