(Marshall, Texas) — As Wiley College prepares to observe International Week April 4-10 on its increasingly diverse campus, the institution’s President, Dr. Haywood L. Strickland, has traveled abroad to take part in the first Higher Education Summit of the United States and Mexico.
Strickland is one of 24 member Presidents of the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) and one of just three Presidents of historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) who are in Guadalajara, Mexico, for meetings today and tomorrow with Rectors (Presidents) of Mexican colleges and universities.
According to the CIC and the Mexican Federation of Private Higher Education Institutions (FIMPES), the organizers of the summit, the purpose of the meetings is to explore partnership opportunities between Mexican and U.S. colleges and universities. The outcomes they’d like to see include greater access to internships for students from both countries, as well as more exchange opportunities and research partnerships for students and faculty of the two countries.
Organizers wrote that the summit “will emphasize the importance of international exchange in today’s ‘America First’ political climate.”
While in Mexico, Dr. Strickland, along with U.S. and Mexican college and university leaders, will visit and meet with campus leaders of three Mexican higher education institutions: Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Universidad Panamericana, and Universidad del Valle de Atemajac.
The college and university leaders will also meet with the U.S. Consul General in Guadalajara, Tanya C. Anderson, and with local, state, and national Mexican officials, as well as additional university rectors.
In each of the three years prior to this week’s summit, rectors of private Mexican colleges and universities traveled to the U.S. to take part in CIC’s Presidents Institute, the largest annual gathering of college and university presidents in the U.S.
About Wiley College:
Wiley College, founded in 1873 in Marshall, Texas, is a historically black, primarily liberal arts, residential, co-educational, Baccalaureate degree-granting institution affiliated with The United Methodist Church and the United Negro College Fund.
About the CIC:
The Council of Independent Colleges is an association of 765 nonprofit independent colleges and universities and higher education affiliates and organizations that has worked since 1956 to excellence, and enhance public understanding of private higher education’s contributions to society. CIC is the major national organization that focuses on providing services to leaders of independent colleges and universities as well as conferences, seminars, and other programs that help institutions to improve educational quality, administrative and financial performance, and institutional visibility.
CIC conducts the largest annual conferences of college and university presidents and 5 of chief academic officers. CIC also provides support to state associations that organize programs and generate contributions for private colleges and universities. The Council is headquartered at One Dupont Circle in Washington, DC. www.cic.edu<http://www.cic.edu/>
About the FIMPES:
FIMPES is the largest network of private universities in Mexico. It was created in 1982 and hosts 108 prestigious universities that serve different socioeconomic sectors in all areas of Mexico. They enroll more than 650,000 students. FIMPES seeks to support institutional quality, in terms of the academic program that its members offer, and to encourage collaboration between affiliated universities and higher education institutions from other countries.
