In October 2025, a UC Santa Cruz delegation visited Mexico City to initiate and strengthen partnerships with Mexican universities. The delegation’s goals included developing potential dual degree and graduate pathway agreements, fostering bilateral research collaborations, exploring joint grant opportunities, facilitating faculty and student exchange, and enhancing UC Santa Cruz’s presence and engagement in Mexico’s academic network. This represents the fourth UC Santa Cruz faculty delegation to Mexico since February 2024, leveraging UC Alianza MX funding to strengthen engagement.
Developing Dual Undergraduate Degrees & Graduate Pathways
The delegation visited the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) to meet with the dean and faculty of the School of Engineering to discuss collaborative dual degree programs for undergraduate and graduate students. UNAM is the largest public university in Mexico and indeed one of the largest universities in the world by enrollment, with over 230k undergraduates and nearly 34k graduate students. Following the meeting with the dean, UC Santa Cruz faculty met with their UNAM counterparts to explore the courses offered at UNAM and UC Santa Cruz in Computer Science and Engineering (CSC) and begin the process of preliminary mapping of the curriculum, with the goal of realizing an agreement as early as spring 2026. The Department of Computer Science at UNAM has approximately 400 undergraduates enrolled, and they estimate that up to ten percent of those students are interested in a dual degree program. If successful, this program will create a pipeline of undergraduate students from Mexico enrolling at UC Santa Cruz each year.
“Building meaningful educational and research partnerships with our colleagues in Mexico is an exciting step toward expanding UC Santa Cruz’s global impact,” said Alexander Wolf, dean of the Baskin School of Engineering. “Research collaborations in areas such as climate solutions, environmental monitoring, agrotechnology, and generative AI are already in play, and, with our partner UNAM, we will be the first UC campus to develop a dual undergraduate degree program in Computer Science and Engineering, providing a unique model to recruit excellent international students.”
There was also much discussion about developing 3+1+1 master’s agreements for Mexican students to complete a Master’s degree at UC Santa Cruz while finishing the final year of a Bachelor’s degree. The dean at Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM) shared that over 95% of ITAM students pursue graduate work abroad, and ITAM does not currently offer any graduate programs in engineering, so they were especially interested in the MS degrees in Natural Language Processing and Human-Computer Interaction offered at the Silicon Valley Campus. Universidad Panamericana (UP) and Universidad Iberoamericana (IBERO) indicated strong interest in the Master’s programs at UC Santa Cruz in Data Science and Environmental Studies.
“I was thrilled to see the strong interest from Mexican universities in partnering with UCSC to advance student and faculty mobility, foster research collaborations, and develop dual-degree and BA/MA pathway programs,” said Peter Biehl, vice provost and dean of the Graduate Division. These partnerships will not only generate additional revenue for our campus but also help us internationalize our California students right here at home.”
Government Collaborations & UC Alianza MX Funding
The delegation visited the Federal Ministry of the Secretary of Science, Humanities, Technology, and Innovation (SECHITI) to learn about funding opportunities for graduate students and postdocs from Mexico to the US. Discussion also centered around the Binational Working Groups being formed now in partnership with UC Alianza MX, which is taking the lead in organizing these working groups with the Ministry.
A visit to Casa de California gave the delegation ideas for future workshops with Mexican partner universities that could be held there, leveraging UC Alianza MX funding to bring our faculty to Mexico to engage with partners. Several of the Mexican universities also have funding to host UC Santa Cruz faculty for short stays to give lectures and engage in research. Recent Alianza calls have supported collaborative projects that connect faculty in areas such as artificial intelligence, climate solutions, and genomics. A current call is open, supporting food systems, social cohesion, and energy transition, while new funding opportunities are emerging for graduate research mobility and postdoctoral exchanges.
The delegation also held a graduate student recruitment event at the COMEXUS Fulbright office, connecting directly with prospective graduate students. At a meeting with the U.S. Embassy, officials expressed support for UC Santa Cruz engagement in Mexico, offering introductions to state-level partners in Jalisco, Querétaro, Puebla, and Chiapas to expand mobility and research collaborations where the Embassy sees opportunities.
Undergraduate & Graduate Student Mobility Opportunities
One topic of mutual interest was research internship opportunities to increase student mobility in both directions. All of the Mexican universities expressed interest in the International Student Research Program at UC Santa Cruz, both during the summer months and during the academic year, for a semester-long stay for both Undergraduate and Graduate students. Several Mexican universities require a study abroad experience or a research internship as part of their curriculum.
Leveraging UC Alianza MX funding for mobility:
- The Division of Global Engagement received funding from UC Alianza MX to fund UC Santa Cruz students to attend summer session at the Téc de Monterey; Research Internships funding to place our students at Mexican universities to engage in research; Global and Community Health internship in Oaxaca.
- UC Alianza MX offers graduate student funding for up to three months for our graduate students to engage in research in Mexico. Four UC Santa Cruz graduate students received these grants in the 2024–2025 academic year, the highest number of recipients from any UC campus.
A direct outcome of the delegation’s visit is the upcoming November 2025 visit of 25 undergraduate engineering students from Universidad Panamericana to UC Santa Cruz. During their time on campus, the students will participate in research talks, lab tours, and meetings with Baskin Engineering faculty to learn about UC Santa Cruz’s graduate study and research opportunities.
Delegation leadership included Peter Biehl, vice provost and dean of the Graduate Division and Alex Wolf, dean of the Baskin School of Engineering. Faculty participants included Roberto Manduchi, associate dean for Graduate Experience, Javier González-Rocha, assistant professor of Applied Mathematics, Ian Lane, professor of Computer Science and Engineering and director of Natural Language Processing Program, Guido Bordignon, associate professor of Molecular, Cell, & Developmental Biology and Global Engagement faculty director for International Exchange. Staff participants included Anne Criss, senior assistant dean and director of climate and sustainability initiatives for the Baskin School of Engineering, Becky George, assistant vice provost of Global Engagement and senior international officer and George Sabo, director of Global Initiatives.
Broadening and deepening institutional partnerships with universities abroad is key to the UC Santa Cruz Strategic Plan for Internationalization.