Mexicans Improve Career Prospects Thanks to Support from the UK
Young Mexicans in Ciudad Juarez have Improved Career Prospects Thanks to Support from the UK’s Skills for Prosperity Programme.
Mexicans Improve Career Prospects Thanks to Support from the UK
Skills for Prosperity Mexico (SFPMX) is a development programme of the UK government that partners with Mexican higher education institutions to align training courses to the needs of the country’s labour market. The Programme prioritises quality, market-based vocational training for some of the most marginalised and vulnerable young women and men in Mexico.
Skills for Prosperity - Mexico
On 18 November 2022, His Majesty’s Ambassador to Mexico, Jon Benjamin, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to formalise the Programme’s collaboration with the Paso del Norte Technological University (PNTU). The University is located in the border city of Ciudad Juarez in the state of Chihuahua and has over one thousand student enrolled annually.
During the MOU ceremony, Dean Ulises Martinez stated,
This alliance is an important milestone to help the University achieve its goal of educating the leaders that Mexico requires to promote inclusive growth to benefit all.
Ambassador Jon Benjamin responded saying that
Collaborating with PNTU is part of the UK’s efforts to promote prosperity among young women and men by helping them develop the right skills for Mexico’s job market.
Mexicans Improve Career Prospects Thanks to Support from the UK
The PNTU becomes the sixth university to partner with the SFPMX in the state of Chihuahua where the Programme has invested close to £2M to date. Collaborating with PNTU is important for SFPMX because it is the only university in the northern part of Ciudad Juarez, where most inhabitants live below the poverty line and youth crime is prevalent.
The Programme has provided capacity-building sessions to eighty PNTU professors in topics to support teaching of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) subjects including green skills to support sustainable economic development. For example, the trainings have prepared the professors to teach students in robotics and industrial design.
The Programme has also provided new laboratories where the students are developing the skills required for advanced manufacturing such as programming and automation. In terms of green skills, the professors are now qualified to teach their students in a number of areas related to energy efficiency, including the installation of solar water heating for residential and industrial purposes.
This capacity building takes place alongside gender equality training that aims, among other things, to prevent gender-based violence and discrimination. Furthermore, a total of 67 professors and university officials participated in trainings on safeguarding and on how to adapt international gender standards to the PNTU’s academic programmes.
Mexicans Improve Career Prospects Thanks to Support from the UK
The collaboration between SFPMX and the Paso del Norte Technological University is actively working to reduce local employment gaps for marginalised youth in Ciudad Juarez, thus improving their career prospects and potential incomes. In this way, Mexico’s economic development and climate transition become more inclusive, allowing young people to play an integral role.