Photo Courtesy of CETYS
AN INTERNATIONAL APPROACH—Tijuana scholars are able to attend Southwestern College classes on the campus of highly-regarded CETYS Universidad.
By Carla Gutierrez
Southwestern College has erased the border.
At least a little part of it.
America’s most southwestern campus has begun offering classes in Tijuana at the venerable Center for Technical and Higher Education University (CETYS). American citizens living in Mexico as well as Mexican scholars can take classes at a California Community College without making the arduous border crossing.
Southwestern College Professor Emeritus Frank Paiano volunteered to help start the new program. The highly-regarded business professor is teaching “Principles of Money Management.” Paiano came out of retirement after almost 42 years at Southwestern to be the person who launched the CETYS program.
“I felt the same nerves as when I started teaching in January 1983,” he said. “I highlight this first, never-before-seen collaboration between Southwestern and another college or university in a different country. We have had other collaborations but have never (physically) offered a class in another country. I hope this is just the first of many classes Southwestern College offers in Tijuana.”
Southwestern College Director of Binational and International Programs Dr. Joel Pilco helped to negotiate an agreement with CETYS specifically to assist binational transfronterizo students. CETYS provides free use of facilities.
Pilco said the agreement stipulates that the colleges collaborate on programs that benefit the educational needs of the San Diego-Tijuana metropolitan complex.
CETYS has accreditation in the United States, which allows Southwestern students to apply many classes to their degree programs and use financial aid. Advocates of mutual cooperation between the cities have called for programs of this sort since the early 1980s, but it took nearly 40 years to get to this point.
A survey of more than 150 students who transit the border daily for school reported that they need more than two hours to cross into California – often 3.5 to four hours if there are law enforcement or political issues effecting staffing. About 55 percent of transfronterizos said they were interested in enrolling in courses at CETYS.
Pilco said the registration process is the same as signing up for other Southwestern College classes. Paiano’s class is a hybrid course with both in-person and online elements. It is taught in English.
Students can park in a multi-level structure that is 15 minutes walking distance from the main CETYS campus. Southwestern students receive a special ID to facilitate movement around the campus.
On the first day of class students were welcomed Mara Georgette Orozco, Academic Coordinator of the Bachelor’s Degree in International Business and the Global Program at CETYS.
Maria Orozco, a CETYS student, gave a tour.
“I am very happy to be part of this project,” she said. “The purpose is to foster communication among students as equals.”
Southwestern College Business Administration student Monique Corona said the class is like any other given in Chula Vista.
“Only the location changes,” she said. “This is a good opportunity for the students. I am pleased they are aware that there are many students living on the other side of the border.”
Communication student Eduardo Ruiz said the CETYS class is much easier for him than classes that require him to commute to Chula Vista. Travel days are grueling, he said, requiring him to awaken at 2 a.m. and travel three or more hours from his home to the Chula Vista campus. CETYS is less than 30 minutes away, he said.
Pilco said the program will continue and expand. He said he expects two or three classes to be taught at CETYS each semester. Southwestern and CETYS are collaborating on a $2 million federal grant to develop a bilingual career-track program in nanotechnology.
