Higher Education in Regional and City Development: Sonora, Mexico 2013

281 Pages·2013·2.604 MB·English

by  OECD

Higher Education in Regional and City H Higher Education in Regional and City
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Development e Development
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SONORA, M,EXICO du
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t Sonora,
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Sonora is one of the wealthiest states in Mexico and has made great strides in n
building its human capital and skills. How can Sonora turn the potential of its in Mexico
universities and technological institutions into an active asset for economic and R
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social development? How can it improve the equity, quality and relevance of g
education at all levels? io
n Jaana Puukka, Susan Christopherson,
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l a Patrick Dubarle, Jocelyne Gacel-Ávila,
This publication explores a range of helpful policy measures and institutional n
reforms to mobilise higher education for regional development. It is part of the series d C Vera Pavlakovich-Kochi
of the OECD reviews of Higher Education in Regional and City Development. These it
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reviews help mobilise higher education institutions for economic, social and cultural D
development of cities and regions. They analyse how the higher education system e
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impacts upon regional and local development and bring together universities, other lo
higher education institutions and public and private agencies to identify strategic p
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goals and to work towards them. e
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CONTENTS S
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Chapter 1. Human capital development, labour market and skills ra
Chapter 2. Research, development and innovation , M
Chapter 3. Social, cultural and environmental development e
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Chapter 4. Globalisation and internationalisation ic
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Chapter 5. Capacity building for regional development

ISBN 978- 92-64-19333-8
89 2013 01 1E1

Higher Education
in Regional and City
Development:
Sonora, Mexico
2013
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Series:HigherEducationinRegionalandCityDevelopment
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3
FOREWORD –

Foreword
Universities and other tertiary education institutions can play a key role
in human capital development and innovation systems in their cities and
regions. Since 2005, the Reviews of Higher Education in Regional and City
Development have been the OECD’s tool to mobilise tertiary education for
economic, social and cultural development of cities and regions. The
reviews have analysed how the tertiary education system impacts local and
regional development and helped improve this impact in more than 30 cities
and regions in over 20 countries. They have examined universities’ and
tertiary education institution’s contribution to human capital and skills
development; technology transfer and business innovation; social, cultural
and environmental development; and regional capacity building. The review
process has facilitated partnership building in cities and regions by drawing
together tertiary education institutions and public and private agencies to
identify strategic goals and work together towards them.
The review of Sonora is the fourth review of its kind in Mexico, after
the reviews higher education in regional and city development in Nuevo
Leon (2006), Veracruz (2010) and Ciudad Juarez in Chihuahua (as part of
the Paso del Norte review, 2010). It complements the reviews that have
taken place in the strategically and economically important US-Mexico
cross-border region, such as those of the Nuevo Leon, the Paso del Norte
Region and most recently Southern Arizona (2011), right next to the state of
Sonora.
The principal objective of the Sonora review is to examine the links
between the region and the tertiary education institutions, and to strengthen
these links to the benefit of both. In this respect the key questions for Sonora
are: How can the state of Sonora benefit from a stronger tertiary education
system? In what ways can universities and other tertiary education
institutions individually and collectively contribute to the economic, social
and cultural development of Sonora. It is our hope that Sonora’s experience
in this review will be an inspiration for the state governments and cities in
Mexico as well as their universities and tertiary education institutions.
HIGHER EDUCATION IN REGIONAL AND CITY DEVELOPMENT: SONORA, MEXICO − © OECD 2013

5
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS –

Acknowledgments
The review visit to Sonora was led by Jaana Puukka (OECD) who also
co-ordinated this publication with support from Bonifacio Agapin and
Olivia Kelley. The members of the review team who contributed to this
publication were Susan Christopherson (Cornell University, US), Patrick
Dubarle (former OECD, FR), Jocelyne Gacel-Avila (University of
Guadalajara, MX) and Vera Pavlakovich-Kochi (University of Arizona, US)
(See Annex A for further details). Rachel Linden supervised the publication
process. This publication draws on interviews carried out during a week-
long review visit on 11-16 March 2012 (Annex II), using information
provided to the review team as well as a range of other OECD reports, such
as the OECD Studies on Water – Meeting the Water Reform Challenge
(2012), OECD Territorial Reviews – Chihuahua (2012), OECD Economic
Survey Mexico (2011), OECD Reviews of Innovation Policy Mexico (2009)
and OECD Reviews of Tertiary Education Mexico (2008).
We are grateful to all stakeholders in Sonora, representing its
government, business and industry, civic society and universities and other
tertiary education institutions who contributed to the review. The OECD
would like to thank in particular Gonzalo Rodríguez-Villanueva, the former
rector of ITSON (the Instituto Tecnológico de Sonora), whose determination
and insight made this review possible and whose efforts to transform ITSON
into an engine of Southern Sonora’s development provide inspiration to
university leaders globally. We would also like to thank Ernesto Flores-
Rivera (ITSON) who, during his 15-month secondment to the OECD,
supported the success of the OECD reviews, while making preparations for
the Sonora review. We thank the lead co-ordinator and his team as well as
other active local counterparts for this review: José Manuel Ochoa-Alcántar,
Manuel Ricardo Lugo-Cruz and Haziel Misael Ayala-Ceceña from ITSON,
Benjamín Burgos-Flores from the University of Sonora (UNISON,
Universidad de Sonora), José Ángel Vera-Noriega from the Centre for
Research on Nutrition and Development (CIAD, Centro de Investigación en
Alimentación y Desarrollo) and Angel Alberto Valdés-Cuervo, ITSON-
CIAD.
HIGHER EDUCATION IN REGIONAL AND CITY DEVELOPMENT: SONORA, MEXICO − © OECD 2013
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– ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

In the state government of Sonora our sincere thanks are extended to the
following representatives: Jorge Luis Ibarra-Mendívil, Secretary of
Education in Sonora; Vicente Pacheco-Castañeda, Secretary for Upper
Secondary and Higher Education in Sonora; Rogelio Noriega-Vargas,
Director for Upper Secondary and Higher Education in Sonora; Sandra
Elena Gutiérrez-Preciado, General Director for Higher Education in Sonora;
Gerardo Ochoa-Salcido, State of Sonora Commission for Higher Education
Planning; Juan Bautista Lagarda-Muñoz, State of Sonora Commission for
Higher Education Planning, as well as José Alfredo Gámez-Corrales from
the Ministry of Economy. We also thank the following representatives from
the Mixed Funds (Fondo Mixto) of the National Council of Science and
Technology (CONACYT, Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología) in the
state of Sonora: Juan Álvarez-López, Francisco Javier Cevallos-Rojas and
José Manuel Zatarain-Domínguez.
HIGHER EDUCATION IN REGIONAL AND CITY DEVELOPMENT: SONORA, MEXICO − © OECD 2013
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TABLE OF CONTENTS –

Table of contents
Foreword .............................................................................................................. 3
Acknowledgments ............................................................................................... 5
List of acronyms ................................................................................................ 13
Assessment and recommendations .................................................................. 21
Chapter 1. Human capital development, labour market and skills .............. 52
Introduction ..................................................................................................... 53
1.1. Tertiary education expansion ................................................................... 55
1.2. Quality and relevance of tertiary education ............................................. 70
1.3. Lifelong learning and reskilling and upskilling........................................ 76
1.4. Strategic co-ordination: Creating linkages between foreign direct
investors and local industry entrepreneurs ...................................................... 84
1.5. A potential crisis of supply for university research and teaching capacity
......................................................................................................................... 87
Conclusions and recommendations ................................................................. 89
Annex 1.A1 Tertiary education institutions in Sonora, 2011-2012 ............... 96
Annex 1.A2. Technical institutes’ enrolment and graduation figures
in Mexico ............................................................................................................ 98
References ........................................................................................................ 101
Chapter 2. Research, development and innovation ..................................... 105
Introduction ................................................................................................... 106
2.1 Sonora’s tertiary education potential ....................................................... 107
2.2 Challenges ............................................................................................... 113
Conclusions and recommendations ............................................................... 126
References ........................................................................................................ 132
Chapter 3. Social, cultural and environmental development ...................... 135
Introduction ................................................................................................... 136
HIGHER EDUCATION IN REGIONAL AND CITY DEVELOPMENT: SONORA, MEXICO − © OECD 2013
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– TABLE OF CONTENTS

3.1 TEIs and social inclusion ........................................................................ 137
3.2 Promotion of environmental sustainability ............................................. 145
3.3 Benchmarking with international experience .......................................... 151
Conclusions and recommendations ............................................................... 156
Annex 3.A.1. Indigenous people in Sonora ................................................... 162
Annex 3.A.2. ITSON’s arts and cultural programme .................................. 164
References ........................................................................................................ 165
Chapter 4: Globalisation and internationalisation ...................................... 169
Introduction ................................................................................................... 170
4.1 Mexico and Sonora in context ................................................................. 171
4.2 Internationalisation and the state education policy ................................. 177
4.3 Internationalisation of Sonora’s tertiary education sector ....................... 183
Conclusions and recommendations ............................................................... 206
Chapter 5. Capacity building for regional development ............................. 217
Introduction ................................................................................................... 218
5.1 Sonora’s governance structure and TE system ........................................ 219
5.2 Sonora’s TEIs and their regional engagement......................................... 225
5.3 Policy environment for TEIs ................................................................... 235
Conclusions and recommendations ............................................................... 254
Annex 5.A.1. Federal funding for TEIs ......................................................... 259
References ........................................................................................................ 260
Annex A. Review team .................................................................................... 267
Annex B. The review visit agenda .................................................................. 271

Tables
Table 1.1. Percentage of population with tertiary education,
municipalities of Sonora by age group (2010) ........................................... 62
Table 2.1. Scimago ranking of selected universities in Mexico and
Arizona (2012) ......................................................................................... 109
Table 2.2. Specialty areas of principle TEIs in Sonora ................................. 112
Table 4.1. Global competitiveness, knowledge economy and
globalisation indices ................................................................................ 173
HIGHER EDUCATION IN REGIONAL AND CITY DEVELOPMENT: SONORA, MEXICO − © OECD 2013