Advancing the Internationalization of Higher Education: Lessons Learned from a US-Mexico Partnership to Develop a Joint PhD Degree in Engineering

This case study documents a bi-national initiative to offer new perspectives on the internationalization of higher education. The goal was to address the impact that globalization is having on higher education and promote the training of more competitive researchers capable of contributing to the betterment of their home countries. The challenge was to design and implement effective strategies to share academic supervisory responsibilities at a PhD level while addressing curriculum development and student mobility. An overview of the agreement, program procedures for admission and degree granting requirements is provided. At present, two students have been transferred from UACH to NMSU as part of this program whose areas of specialization include structural and geotechnical engineering, with estimated graduation dates of 2015 and 2016 respectively. The program was recently reviewed using a SWOT (strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats) analysis and a Logic Model to identify areas of opportunity and to review the relationship between program goals and outcomes. The impact of cultural competence and self-efficacy beliefs on student performance was also considered to provide recommendations for program improvement.