Rice University recently expanded its international outreach efforts into Mexico, formalizing exchange programs with Tec de Monterrey (Monterrey Tech) and Universidad de Monterrey (University of Monterrey, or UDEM).

While both are private universities, they have different missions, and Rice’s agreements reflect that difference.

Monterrey Tech was founded in 1943 and received accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) in the United States in 1951. With an enrollment of 95,000 full-time students on 29 campuses, the university offers 34 undergraduate, 51 master’s, and six doctoral programs.

UDEM is a younger, smaller university, founded in 1969 and accredited in 2001. It has 8,500 students on a single campus and offers 23 academic programs for undergraduates and 11 programs at the master’s level.

The agreement with UDEM formalizes an unofficial exchange program that has been in place for several years and involves Rice’s George R. Brown School of Engineering and Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and UDEM’s School of Engineering. The plan is to eventually expand the program to include computer science, architecture, humanities, and social sciences.

The UDEM program has taken some time to develop. In 1990, a group of students from the university came to Rice and invited Rice to participate in their annual student-run conference. The following year, Enrique Barrera, associate professor of mechanical engineering and materials science, and Michael Carroll, the Burton J. and Ann M. McMurtry Professor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering and Computational and Applied Mathematics, brought a number of students to the conference.

The relationship regained momentum in 1993, and today involves annual visits between the universities; however, the student exchange has been one-way so far. “UDEM is a very young university,” Barrera says, noting that only 30 percent of the faculty hold doctorates. “Our relationship with them has been one of stewardship. We try to provide an opportunity to produce students for advanced degrees who can go back to their campus and become Ph.D. research faculty.”

Rice’s connection with Monterrey Tech is more recent. The present agreement, expected to be the first among many, will apply only to Rice’s mechanical engineering and materials science department and Monterrey Tech’s mechanical engineering department.

“Collaborations with Monterrey Tech are crystallizing on several fronts,” says Rice president Malcolm Gillis. “Discussions involving the Jones School of Management and the Baker Institute for Public Policy are the centerpieces at present. Also, we are discussing possibilities for future interaction among Monterrey Tech, Rice, and International University Bremen.”

Right now the agreement with Monterrey Tech is a preliminary one signifying the intent to begin an official relationship. The details are being negotiated, and a more formal signing will take place once those details are in place.

Jordan Konisky, vice provost for research and graduate studies, sees a lot of potential for both of these collaborative efforts. “I frequently get contacted by universities from all over the world who want to develop ties with Rice,” Konisky says. “But we are very selective because, unless there is faculty-to-faculty interaction, these things just don’t work. You cannot implement this from the top; there has to be a common interest and a solid working relationship. And that’s what we have here.”

—Margot Dimond