Frontera NorteSur May-June  2004

First Anniversary for Tamaulipas On-Line Media Project EnLínea Directa

May 5, 2004 marks the one year anniversary of EnLínea Directa, an on-line news source based out of Reynosa, Tamaulipas.  An extension of the "Línea Directa" radio show from that city, the web site began as a way for area journalists to avoid the censorship they had suffered in other media venues. Word of EnLínea Directa's existence has spread rapidly and only one other Tamaulipas news site receives more traffic, Nuevo Laredo's El Mañana newspaper. 

During its first twelve months, EnLínea Directa has grown significantly and added new sections--often at the request of its readers.  Most recently the site has put links to 14 other Tamaulipas on-line news sites, most or all of which are extensions of city newspapers.  

EnLínea Directa also has relationships with news sources in Chihuahua, Durango, and Coahuila.  Soon it will be collaborating with media organizations from Sonora, Nuevo León and Baja California as well. 

According to the web-tracking service Netcraft, EnLínea Directa ranks 599,569 out of the more than 50 million web sites that the company watches.  This is an improvement from its previous position at number 1,103,937 just three months ago.  

Extremetracking.com has collected data for EnLínea Directa that shows that 66.47% of its readers are in Mexico,  11.36% are in the US, 17.76% are reading from unknown locations and other significant nations are Spain, France, Argentina and Chile.  The site has also been accessed from Norway, Sweden, the Keeling Islands (population 600+) and 67 other countries.

EnLínea Directa points out that 0.47% of its readers are from the US government, 0.10% are from U.S. schools and univerisities and 0.01% are from the US military.  

On April 26, the site broke the 100,000 hits per day mark. 

In the years ahead, EnLínea Directa wants to becoming an obligatory point of reference for Tamaulipas news.  However, more important according to its directors, is its continued dedication to its readers and its guiding principles of truth, justice, fairness, transparency and independence. 

Source:  EnLínea Directa (Reynosa), May 5, 2004. 

High-Ranked UABC Attracts Out-of-State Students and Foreigners

On June 14, 2004 more than 200 out-of-state and foreign students waited outside Tijuana's Universidad Autónoma de Baja California (Autonomous University of Baja California, UABC) to begin enrollment procedures at the university.  Students from the state went through the same process at an earlier point in the year.  However, both groups of aspiring students must go through the same application process. 

Among those waiting was Nayeli García Pérez, 17 years old, from Nogales, Sonora.  She wants to study international business at UABC and was attracted to the university because of its good reputation.  Her sister and some cousins live in Tijuana which was an added draw for her. 

Francisco Colorado Eusebio, age 20, is from Toluca, State of Mexico.  He wants to study dentistry and chose UABC because the same programs in Mexico City and the State of Mexico are very hard to get into because of stiff competition for relatively few places. 

Some of UABC's students come not just from outside the state but also from outside Mexico.   Monserrat Flores Pérez, age 24, studied biology and Spanish literature at the University of California in the US.  She's now interested in becoming a doctor but prefers the Mexican system because it only takes five years to get through which is shorter than a similar program would be in the US.  Once finished at UABC she says she'll try to do her residency in San Diego. 

UABC's good reputation would appear to be well deserved.  In a study of Mexican public universities, UABC was ranked among the best along with the universities of Aguascalientes, Chihuahua, Ciudad Juárez, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Yucatán and the Instituto Politécnico Nacional among others. 

The study, which was done by La Revista (part of the newspaper El Universal), looked at 60 state schools.  Of these universities 40 were given a failing grade due to low academic achievements.  Another ten barely avoided a failing grade.  The UNAM (the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) was not evaluated. 

The best public university in that nation was determined to be the Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí in north-central Mexico. Its graduates were rated first in twelve areas of study including medicine, dentistry, mechanical engineering, computer science and nursing.  The university has been effective in teaching English to its students and 70% of its instructors have their doctorates or master's degrees.  A former president of the school said that part of its success is the distance it keeps from politics. 

Sources: Frontera (Tijuana), June 15, 2004.  

Tijuana University CETYS to Expand Double-Diploma Programs

The Tijuana university CETYS (Centro de Enseñanza Técnica y Superior, Center for Technical and Higher Education) is seeking double-diploma programs with European, Latin American and US universities.  These programs will award graduates a diploma from CETYS and another diploma from a univeristy where the graduates have done at least one year of their studies.  In this way graduates have college degrees that are valid in Mexico and another nation as well, says Carlos Rodríguez Rubio, head of the university's administration doctoral program.

Double diploma programs are not new to CETYS.  For ten years the university has had such a program with San Diego State University.  Known as Mexus, the program has had approximately 70 graduates.  Currently, Mexus has 10 students.  Students graduate with a degree in international business. 

CETYS Mexus students spend at least one year at San Diego State University after they have finished their fourth year of course work in Tijuana. 

Although CETYS wants to expand its double-diploma offerings, Rodríguez states that they will all be limited to international business in the near future.  However, there are plans to eventually expand into accounting and engineering.  

Double-diploma programs may also be expanded to doctoral programs.  Talks have taken place with the University of Barcelona about the possibility of a PhD in psychology.  There is also interest from an Italian university--the University of Bejarano--and from three in Chile.  CETYS wants to establish more programs with US universities as well.  

According to Rodríguez, participating universities do more than just offer a year of classes to students.  Instead, CETYS and its foreign partner offer similar courses of study so that graduates from both schools have parallel academic experiences over their entire academic career. 

Source: Frontera (Tijuana), June 2, 2004.  Article by Hamlet Alcántara.