Mexico Education Deep Dive with DIT

Join us for a deep dive into the education opportunities in Mexico led by the Department for International Trade. Julio Evaristo, Head of Education, Healthcare and Life Sciences, and Cassandra Vargas, Trade Officer for Education, Health and Life Sciences will provide us with an insight into the key education priorities and an overview of their pipeline. 

Mexico’s education system is undergoing huge stress. The demand and enrolment for university has increased, with enrolment having more than doubled from 1.9 million to 4.4 million between 2000 and 2017 (UNESCO) which is placing pressure on adequate and sufficient provision of universities across the country. Nevertheless, Mexico’s rate of university enrolment (38%) still remains below other major Latin American countries such as Brazil (50%) and Argentina (89%). In response, Mexico’s Leftist populist president Andrés Manuel López Obrador has vowed to build 100 new universities. 

Despite Mexico’s familiarity with the US Education system due to their geographic proximity, there exists a growing demand for English Language Teaching (ELT) due to the globalisation, need for skilled human capital, and growing tourism economy. 

Education in Mexico is characteristic of inequalities be it by gender and geographic location. Completion rates of upper-secondary school (ages 10-12) in Mexico City are at 64% compared to 40% in Chiapas (WENR, 2019), highlighting the stark North-South divide. Further, whilst digital learning is on the rise across the country, it remains largely inaccessible for indigenous and poorer communities in the South.

In Mexico’s Learning Poverty Brief (2022), they highlighted that 48% of children in Mexico are not proficient in reading by the time they leave school, and 47% of children do not achieve the Minimum Passing Level (MPL) at the end of primary school which has significant implications to Mexico’s efforts to build their human capital.  

Agenda:

• Introduction & welcome (5mins)

• Brief market overview (3/5mins)

• Overview of Mexico’s top priorities in education + opportunities (8mins)

• Challenges and barriers of doing business in Mexico, and how to navigate these (8mins)

• Discussion and Q&A (25mins)

• Closing remarks (5mins)

• Close