Higher Education in Regional and City Development Higher Education in Regional and City Higher Education in Regional and City Development Development SONORA, MEXICO, Sonora is one of the wealthiest states in Mexico and has made great strides in Sonora, building its human capital and skills. How can Sonora turn the potential of its universities and technological institutions into an active asset for economic and Mexico social development? How can it improve the equity, quality and relevance of education at all levels? Jaana Puukka, Susan Christopherson, This publication explores a range of helpful policy measures and institutional Patrick Dubarle, Jocelyne Gacel-Ávila, reforms to mobilise higher education for regional development. It is part of the series Vera Pavlakovich-Kochi of the OECD reviews of Higher Education in Regional and City Development. These reviews help mobilise higher education institutions for economic, social and cultural development of cities and regions. They analyse how the higher education system impacts upon regional and local development and bring together universities, other higher education institutions and public and private agencies to identify strategic goals and to work towards them. Sonora, Mexico CONTENTS Chapter 1. Human capital development, labour market and skills Chapter 2. Research, development and innovation Chapter 3. Social, cultural and environmental development Chapter 4. Globalisation and internationalisation 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 This work is published on the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Organisation or of the governments of its member countries. This document and any map included herein are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area. ISBN 978-92-64-19333-8 (PDF) Series: Higher Education in Regional and City Development ISSN 2218-3140 (online) The statistical data for Israel are supplied by and under the responsibility of the relevant Israeli authorities. The use of such data by the OECD is without prejudice to the status of the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the West Bank under the terms of international law. Photo credits: Cover Photo: © José Manuel Ochoa Alcántar. Design: © Francisco Esquer Mares. Corrigenda to OECD publications may be found on line at: www.oecd.org/publishing/corrigenda. © OECD 2013 You can copy, download or print OECD content for your own use, and you can include excerpts from OECD publications, databases and multimedia products in your own documents, presentations, blogs, websites and teaching materials, provided that suitable acknowledgment of the source and copyright owner is given. All requests for public or commercial use and translation rights should be submitted to [email protected]. Requests for permission to photocopy portions of this material for public or commercial use shall be addressed directly to the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) at [email protected] or the Centre français d'exploitation du droit de copie (CFC) at [email protected]. FOREWORD – 3 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 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS – 5 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 6 – 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 TABLE OF CONTENTS – 7 Table of contents Foreword .............................................................................................................. 3 Acknowledgments ............................................................................................... 5 List of acronyms ................................................................................................ 13 Assessment and recommendations .................................................................. 21 Chapter 1. Human capital development, labour market and