Languages Canada was in western Mexico last week to celebrate and solidify strategic partnerships with the states of Aguascalientes and Jalisco.
On August 20th, LC’s Executive Director, Gonzalo Peralta, joined by representatives from Sheridan College, Heartland International English School and Lakehead University, participated in a farewell ceremony in Aguascalientes for a cohort of scholarship students bound for Canada this fall. The Bécalos - IEA-Santander 2019 scholarship program is sending 60 top undergraduate students from Aguascalientes to Canada from September to December 2019 for a full semester, entailing 3 audited courses in students’ areas of study plus a complementary English for Academic Purposes program. The program was designed and is administered in partnership between Languages Canada and the Technical University of El Retoño.
Students will be studying across disciplines of engineering, business, renewable energies, digital design and information technologies. Students will be received by five academic institutions in Canada:
- Algonquin College;
- Heartland International English School, Mississauga, in partnership with Sheridan College;
- Lakehead University; and
- Niagara College.
Funding for the scholarships, valued at approximately $600,000 CAD, is provided by the Instituto de Educación de Aguascalientes, Santander Bank and Fundación Televisa. The farewell ceremony was presided over by the Governor of the state, C.P. Martín Orozco Sandoval, who has proclaimed Aguascalientes’ intention to become Mexico’s first officially bilingual state.
The LC delegation was then in Guadalajara on August 21st, and signed a new cooperation agreement with the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology of Jalisco.
The state government of Jalisco is investing in skills development of its future workforce, particularly within strategic growth sectors, such as automotive, agroindustry, biotechnology, genomics, renewable energies and creative industries. The Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology recognizes the importance of building language proficiency to support economic growth; under the newly signed agreement, LC will work with the Ministry to develop mobility programs for English and French language learning and immersion, leadership capacity-building; and development of cross-cultural competencies.
The program for the visit to Aguascalientes and Jalisco was coordinated with the support of the Consulate of Canada in Guadalajara. Languages Canada wishes in particular to thank Education Trade Commissioner Veronica Soto for her tireless work in building education bridges between Canada and Mexico.
In 2018, over 14,000 Mexican students chose Canada as their destination to learn English and French, making Mexico the 4th largest sending country for language students in Canada. Languages Canada members welcomed a total of 156,000 students in 2018.
For more information, please contact Rachel Lindsey, Director of International Affairs and Operations, at: rlindsey@languagescanada.ca.
