UNM COLLEGE OF EDUCATION AWARDED GRANT TO SUPPORT STUDENT EXCHANGE PROGRAM WITH MEXICO, CANADA

May 7, 2003

UNM COLLEGE OF EDUCATION AWARDED GRANT TO SUPPORT STUDENT EXCHANGE PROGRAM WITH MEXICO, CANADA
Two UNM students will take part in 2003

The University of New Mexico Office of Latin American Programs in Education (LAPE) has been awarded a four-year, $200,000 grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education (FIPSE).

The grants will support the North American Student Mobility Project, a cultural exchange program for graduate students in educational research. Students will spend a semester at a host school in the United States, Canada or Mexico as part of their current program of study.

LAPE, a unit in the UNM College of Education's Multicultural Education Center, will facilitate the exchange of 21 students from three U.S. universities to three universities in Canada and three in Mexico. Two UNM students have been selected to participate in 2003. Shannon Reierson will travel to Universidad Pedagógica Nacional in Mexico City and Deoksoon Kim will be hosted by the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. A student from Universidad Pedagógica Nacional and another from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver requested to come to UNM in 2004.

Other participating institutions are: In the United States, University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), and Arizona State University. In Canada, McGill University; and in Mexico, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), and Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos.

"These projects are more important now than ever," said Guillermina Engelbrecht, LAPE director.

"The world is changing very fast, and in the case of North America, rapid economic integration is being achieved in many areas, yet when it comes to improving mutual understanding, our educational systems lag far behind. Our expectation is that students and faculty participating in these mobility projects will enrich their understanding of educational issues through learning each other's perspectives. We also anticipate greater participation in new joint research and teaching projects."

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