ASU doing homework on Mexico, exploring it for satellite campus

Sunday, November 25, 2012

— A team of Arkansas State University administrators will visit Mexico this month to explore opening a new campus there.

Under the plan, ASU-Jonesboro would form a public-private partnership with a group of businesses to teach 3,000 to 5,000 Mexicans in the state of Queretaro within four or five years, ASU Chancellor Tim Hudson said.

If the university pursues the plan, ASU-Mexico would be the first large-scale international branch from an Arkansas university and a unique endeavor among American higher-education institutions.

As Mexico’s middle class grows, so does the demand for higher education, Hudson said, and Mexico’s universities don’t have the capacity to meet the need for a more-educated work force.

“The concept has been brewing out there for a long time,” he said. “It makes sense from a business point of view that you want to sell your products where the population is growing. I think that’s the case in Mexico.”

ASU’s exploratory trip comes on the heels of a Jonesboro visit in September by a Mexican delegation of business and government officials, including Queretaro Gov. Jose Calzada Rovirosa.

The group presented a plan to Arkansas officials to build a campus to “support development and employment generation in both countries,” listing dozens of international companies as supporters of the concept, documents show.

Under the proposal, a group of Mexican businesses would form a foundation that would build a campus on a donated site, provide start-up funds and clear all regulatory hurdles.

Mexican students there would have the same in-state tuition rates that Arkansas residents pay to enroll at the Jonesboro campus, and that revenue would fund all degree programs, maintenance and support at the international campus, planning documents said.

Leaders say they will launch the international campus only if ASU can finance its operations entirely through tuition paid by students there and would commit no state funds to the project.

ASU System President Charles Welch said the plan may even generate some excess revenue that the university can use to build programs at its Jonesboro campus.

“At the end of the day, while we would be providing opportunities to students in Mexico and other parts of Latin America, obviously the No. 1 priority for us is ensuring that it would be good for Arkansas State University.”

A campus in Mexico would raise the university’s national and international profile, build connections with international companies based in that region and provide opportunities for students, Welch and Hudson said.

Classes at the Mexico campus would be taught in English and would include general education requirements and some degree programs that are offered in Jonesboro, Hudson said. This would make it easy for Arkansas students to study abroad on the Mexico campus for a semester without interrupting their degree plans, he said. It also would allow for the exchange of faculty members, and it would open the door to greater international internship possibilities, he said.

In addition, students on the Mexico campus could later choose to enroll at the Jonesboro campus to complete graduate programs, Hudson said.

“I went into this with a very open mind, wondering how people would react to it,” he said. “But I think there’s a recognition that we have an obligation to provide our own students with an understanding of the global economy.”

ASU’s faculty senate and executive Cabinet have both supported the proposal, Hudson said.

Mexican officials first approached Hudson about creating the international campus while he was vice chancellor of the Texas Tech University System in Lubbock.

When Hudson became ASU chancellor this year, Mexican officials asked to continue the discussions, shifting to ASU as their American partner, he said.

Gov. Mike Beebe, who met with the Mexican delegation, is comfortable with the discussions, Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample said.

“The governor supports looking into the opportunity further, so long as it doesn’t increase costs to our taxpayers or ASU students,” he said.

While some Arkansas campuses own sites in other countries, those are generally small semester-long, study abroad programs rather than programs offering full degrees to students there.

The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville has a site in Panama, but it offers just one degree, a master’s in business administration.

The Panamanian government, led by President Ricardo Martinelli, a UA alumnus, has agreed to sponsor up to 30 students in that program, which was approved by UA trustees in March.

UA has said it may offer similar master’s in business administration programs in India, China and Russia.

ASU’s plan would need approval from its trustees and the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

The higher-education board has a ban on the creation of new colleges or the conversion of existing satellite campuses into independent institutions. That ban is intended to keep down administrative costs and maintain the economic efficiency of teaching students in one location.

An ASU campus in Mexico would be considered an extension of the existing Jonesboro campus, interim Higher Education Director Shane Broadway said, similar to the satellite branches that some Arkansas community colleges open to reach more students.

“It would be just like if they were to start one in Marianna,” he said of approving a campus in Mexico.

Hudson said administrators hope to decide whether to pursue the plan before the end of the year.

ASU won’t create a Mexico branch if it would financially entangle the university in something it cannot easily walk away from or if it couldn’t have complete control over faculty credentials and academic rigor, he said.

“We had some pretty tough discussions,” Hudson said. “If this works, we want to do it with our eyes open. Neither partner wants to be naive about [it].

“They will get this done. They will find an American academic partner. We have the chance for that to be us.”

Front Section, Pages 1 on 11/25/2012