This was the second time Mexico has been the “official host” of the United Nations sponsored day.
Wayne met afterwards with Jalisco Governor Aristoteles Sandoval. They discussed tourism, U.S. investment in Jalisco, the governor’s upcoming visit to Silicon Valley, bilateral education exchanges and security issues, including cooperation under the Mérida initiative.
At the Instituto Cultural Mexicano-Norteamericano, Wayne met and talked with secondary students beginning a two-year program to learn English called the English Access Microscholarship Program. This U.S. State Department sponsored program provides a foundation of English language skills to 13-20 year-olds from economically disadvantaged sectors through after-school classes and intensive sessions.
While at the Instituto, Wayne and Universidad de Guadalajara (UdG) Rector Tonatuih Bravo Padilla announced the formalization of a partnership agreement to enable UdG and University of Arizona students to collaborate on engineering design projects.
Wayne said the 25,000-dollar grant from Partners of the Americas, funded by the ExxonMobil Foundation, will “enable engineering students from the University of Arizona and the University of Guadalajara to work together on real-world engineering design problems from industry sponsors.”
Four other Mexican universities also won grants in this competition, for a total of five Mexican winners out of eight winners in Latin America. The other Mexican winners include Universidad Anáhuac Mayab in Merida, Universidad de Colima, CETYS University in Mexicali, and CETYS University in Ensenada, Baja California.
On Friday evening, Wayne met with local tech sector entrepreneurs in advance of the World Congress on Information Technology, which took place at Expo Guadalajara from September 29-October 1.