By Camila A. Gonzalez
On a hill on the southern flank of the Southwestern College campus, students can see well into Mexico. La linea is just six miles as the crow flies from the Chula Vista campus and a stone’s throw from the Otay Mesa campus.
Yet SC and the Mexican system of higher education can seem as distant as Maine. Despite the fact that Tijuana is home to two universities closer to SC than either SDSU or UCSD, there has been little effort by college leaders in either nation to form meaningful partnerships.
That may be changing. SC is reaching a hand across the border and a major Mexican university system is reaching back.
Dr. Joel Pilco, SC’s director of binational and international programs, will never erase the border, but he has removed dozens of other barriers. Mexico’s venerable Universidad Autonoma de Baja California has done likewise south of la frontera.
SC and UABC have formed a partnership that at first will serve primarily low-income students in Mexico. UABC will help selected students with scholarships for tuition fees and international (F1) student visas. SC will offer the Mexican students California in-state tuition rather than the much higher international student rate.
Pilco and SC President Mark Sanchez said they hope the relationship with UABC will serve as a model for a new approach to borderlands higher education. Sanchez is working with California Assemblymember David Alvarez to pass Assembly Bill 91, the Binational Tuition Exemption Pilot Program for Local Community Colleges. It would allow students who reside within 45 miles of the California-Mexico border to attend local community colleges.
Border hugging Baja California cities Tijuana and Mexicali have populations of about 2.26 million and 1.16 million, respectively. SoCal’s borderlands are uniquely binational, Pilco said.
“We are a community of 7 million people on both sides, and we exchange so many things every day,” he said. “More than 54,000 people cross (the border) every day for work or school. Our students work in San Diego and Tijuana and vice versa. We are not a separate economy like the border tells us. We are a real binational economy.”
Borderlands commerce may exceed $250 billion annually, Pilco said.
“We need to work together to prepare students so they can stay in this region, work in this region, get paid well and stay with their families,” he said.
Colleges on both sides of la linea have worked to slash and burn red tape, Pilco said, by assisting with transcripts and other required documents. Colleges will handle the process of conducting a foreign credential evaluation and pay for it.
“We have made it easier,” he said. “Students do not know how to do it, some schools do not know how to do it. So we are taking this burden from students. All students need to do is have the transcript translated in Mexico before we take care of it.”
SC Governing Board President Roberto Alcantar said the program will provide binational experiences close to home.
“For the first time, people from this community are in charge,” he said. “We are people who grew up along the border and crossed every day to come to school. Now we can bring forward policies and changes that reflect the needs of the community because we are the community.”
Paloma Virgina Guadiana Murrieta, a psychology major in UABC, said she is excited about the binational program.
“I think is gives students an opportunity to study in the (United States) and to explore other possible job opportunities,” she said. “It could be a new way forward.”