Mexico/OER

Original wiki page by Paul Bacsich, James Kay and Nick Jeans of Sero, drawing on VISCED material (and in turn from Re.ViCa).

The latest material on OER in Mexico is an attached 32-page PDF report File:OER Mexico Edition 2.pdf, produced in June 2014 by Terence Karran with research assistance from Iris Velazquez.

(This is an update of their earlier 20-page report Media:OER_Mexico_Report_Dec2012-pdf.pdf of December 2012.)

For entities in Mexico see Category:Mexico

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Policies Survey notes:

Mexico has developed several ICT-related projects, including the production of digital learning resources. However, it is not clear whether these resources are shared under open licences.

Overview

Mexico, in full the United Mexican States, is a federal constitutional republic in North America comprising thirty-one states and a federal district, the capital Mexico City, whose metropolitan area is one of the world's most populous. Covering almost 2 million square kilometres, Mexico is the fifth-largest country in the Americas by total area and the 14th largest independent nation in the world.

With an estimated population of 109,000,000, it is the 11th most populous country and the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world. As a regional power and the only Latin American member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) since 1994, Mexico is firmly established as an upper middle-income country. Mexico is a newly industrialized country and the 11th largest economy in the world by GDP by purchasing power parity. The economy is strongly linked to those of its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners. Despite being considered an emerging power, the uneven distribution of income and the increase in insecurity are issues of concern.

Further information

For further general information see Wikipedia:Mexico.

Education in Mexico

For a general description of education in Mexico see Education:Mexico.

The education system of Mexico is organized as follows: Preschool Education (Educación Preescolar) Primary Education (Educación Primaria) Lower-Seconary (Educación Secundaria) Upper-Secondary Education (Educación Media Superior) Higher Education (Educación Superior)

Education in Mexico is provided by institutions under the jurisdiction of the federal, state and municipal government, as well as private institutions. Private institutions with academic programmes must be accredited by the SEP.

Article Three of the Mexican Constitution and the General Law of Education comprise the main legal framework regulating the Mexican education system. Article Three stipulates that all individuals have a right to receive education and that the State has an obligation to provide compulsory and free basic education services and to promote all levels. The General Law of Education (GLE), passed in 1993 and further amended in 2002, widens and reinforces the above principles. Among other things, it clarifies rights and obligations for federal and state authorities. It states that it is SEP’s responsibility to guarantee the national unity of basic education, improve its quality, and seek equity in the access to these services. It also establishes that it is the states’ obligation to provide initial and basic education, including indigenous and special education services, as well as teacher training programs.

For the year 2007-08, the total number of students was 33.3 millions. Among them, 76.5 % are enrolled in basic education levels, 11.5 % in upper-secondary education (or Educación media superior that is the fastest-growing level) and 7.9 %, in Higher Education, which represents 2.6 million students. Besides 71.6 % enrolments are attributed to State institutions (due the massive decentralisation of basic education) and 13.5 % enrolments to private institutions.

Within Higher Education, the level of Técnico superior (technological studies) accounts for 3.2%; Licenciatura (first level of undergraduate studies) accounts for 90.1 % and Posgrado (postgraduate studies up to doctorate) accounts for 6.7% of total students As for the institutional management, the student population is shifted as follows: 39.1 % are enrolled in autonomous HEIs, 13.2 %, in State HEIs; 14.3 % in federal HEIs and 33.3% in private HEIs.

The official language of instruction is Spanish. However, increasing attention is being paid to Indigenous education. Mexico recognizes 62 indigenous ethnic groups that speak more than 80 languages. These groups are found in 24 of the 31 Mexican states. More than 1 million indigenous children receive bilingual instruction at the preschool and elementary school levels; this education is offered in 72 dialects from 49 parent languages.

e-learning

For a description more focussed to e-learning see E-learning:Mexico.

The three largest initiatives involve secondary basic education:

Telesecundaria, the Satellite Television Network (EDUSAT): The government accommodated a large proportion of the enrolment growth in lower secondary, particularly in rural areas, through the expansion of the telesecundaria model since it required very little infrastructure and only one facilitator-teacher per grade. Lectures are given via satellite TV in 15-minute programs. In 2002, 1.2 million students were enrolled which represented about 20 percent of the total enrolment in this level. Annual costs per student were about 16 percent higher than in regular schools (counting TV programme production, supplementary materials, teacher salaries, and infrastructure). Distance learning has proved to be a cost-effective model although student achievement results and completion rates are not as high as they are in regular secondary schools.

The School Network of Educational Computer Science (Red Escolar): using technology, students and teachers develop collaborative projects related to various subjects. For instance, they participate in reading and writing contests, puzzles, and team research.

Enciclomedia: started in 2003-04 with the digitization process of primary education textbooks in CD-ROM format.

In addition to these three initiatives, there are two others worth mentioning: For some years it has been possible to study online for the Bachillerato (school leaving exam) at Colegio de Bachilleres (SEAD) telecentre.org reports on an initiative linking primary and secondary school children in Mexico, Bolivia and Peru for some mathematics education. This is a current programme of telecentre.org - see separate entry for more details.

OLPC Mexico This has its own web site http://www.olpcmexico.org - but there seem to be no figures.

The state of Sonora has announced that it has ordered 5000 XO laptops and intends over time to supply 350,000 to all elementary school pupils (1)

In Higher Education:

ECOESAD-Common Area for Distance Higher Education available only in Spanish ! This initiative aims at creating a consortium of public universities in order to develop distance higher education by integrating each institution’s training offer and sharing it nationally. This consortium could be a preliminary step towards a national distance university.

NetACTIVE-TOWARDS A VIRTUAL MOBILITY SCHEME A Virtual Mobility Scheme has been developed as a part of the Net ACTIVE project, which aims to increase the number of virtual mobility students from Latin America participating in European distance and blended masters, using ECTS. The scheme has been based upon a comparative evaluation of Reports on the European and Latin-American offerings in virtual and blended courses.

Coordinación de Universidad Abierta y Educación a Distancia available only in Spanish ! UNAM coordinates this network portal for Open and Distance University Education. Here is the English version of the UNAM's website Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Universidad de Guadalajara Virtual available only in Spanish ! This is webportal of the UDGvirtual campus. Here you can find a general presentation in English of Universidad de Guadalajara

Polivirtual available only in Spanish ! This is the English website of the Instituto Politécnico Nacional. The virtual campus program is managed by the Unidad Politécnica para la Educación Virtual (UPEV) that encompasses the Department of New Media, the center of educational technology and the coordinating structure of Campus Virtual Politécnico.

Quality procedures

Mexico has more than two million students and more than 1000 higher education institutes but among them are many very small institutes or universities of poor quality. Besides, there is no national accreditation system that sets the standard.

In order to determine the quality of a higher education institute in Mexico one should look at several criteria.

Public universities are autonomous which allows them to create their own syllabus. In contrast, private universities need to have for each program an official recognition by the Mexican Ministry of Education (RVOE : Reconocimiento de Validez Oficial de Estudios).

Responsibility for the evaluation and accreditation of the programs of both private and public higher education institutes has been allocated to CIEES (Comités Interinstitucionales para la Evaluación de la Educación Superior) and COPAES (Consejo para la acreditacion de la educación superior) which are organisms recognized by the government through the Mexican Ministry of Education.

FIMPES evaluates private higher education institutions. 21 members of FIMPES have the “Registry of Excellence” issued by the Mexican Ministry of Education in agreement with FIMPES. This is the maximum distinction of quality as a member of FIMPES.

The postgraduate programs (Master and PhD) listed in the PNP (Padrón Nacional de Posgrado) have the recognition of academic quality by the Mexican Ministry of Education and CONACyT, the National Council for Science and Technology.

There is also the The National Assessment Centre for Higher Education/Centro Nacional de Evaluación para la Educación Superior (CENEVAL).

Internet in Mexico

The official initiative involving universal access and governmental information over the last seven years has been e-Mexico, which attempted to create a system of satellite connectivity. However, since it was implemented by the Ministry of Communications and Transport, it did not receive support from either the Ministry of Education or the Ministry of Health (Hofmann & García-Cantú, 2008). E-Mexico has not been successful, in spite of several governmental efforts. At present, government agencies are discussing a new strategy for universal access that takes advantage of WiMAX and Wi-Fi connectivity for schools, health centres and government offices across the country. The State Networks for Education, Health and Government, a new version of e-Mexico (without the satellite), and the University Corporation for the Development of the Internet (CUDI) will be the principal implementers of the project. (1)

In its response to the OECD questionnaire, Mexico listed internet connectivity as a very relevant problem to its involvement with OER. (2)

Due to the economic and social conditions of the country, the internet continues to be a tool used by the privileged sectors in Mexico. The country’s uneven state of digital access is due to differences in income, age, gender, urbanisation, and socioeconomic disparities between regions. However, since mobile telephony is experiencing the greatest growth in the telecommunications sector in Mexico, it could be deduced that it is the service offering the greatest access in the country.

The low penetration of ICT in business is striking. This varies according to company size, geographic region and economic sector. Reasons cited by various sources include telecommunications regulation, broadband rates, the unequal sizes of companies, and the lack of financing to acquire computer equipment. For this reason, there is a deep digital divide amongst Mexican companies compared to other countries (Tello, 2008).

Without doubt, Mexico needs a digital agenda in order to ensure equitable access. At present a comprehensive digital agenda in the country does not exist. Instead, at federal government level, there are a series of uncoordinated programmes and initiatives in different ministries. The official initiative involving universal access and governmental information over the last seven years has been e-Mexico, which attempted to create a system of satellite connectivity. However, since it was implemented by the Ministry of Communications and Transport, it did not receive support from either the Ministry of Education or the Ministry of Health (Hofmann & García-Cantú, 2008). E-Mexico has not been successful, in spite of several governmental efforts. At present, government agencies are discussing a new strategy for universal access that takes advantage of WiMAX and Wi-Fi connectivity for schools, health centres and government offices across the country. The State Networks for Education, Health and Government, a new version of e-Mexico (without the satellite), and the University Corporation for the Development of the Internet (CUDI) will be the principal implementers of the project.

Copyright law in Mexico

A problem in the implementation of OER mentioned by Mexico is redefining copyright and intellectual property regulations. (2)

OER Initiatives in Mexico

In its response to the OECD questionnaire, Mexico listed "a great number of projects of different sizes" and reported that it is active in OER over the full spectrum of education, with the exception of International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) sector 4. Institutions of higher education involved in distance learning are developing an OER strategy. It was also noted that the Education Sector Programme and the National Development Plan 2007-12 make reference to OER. (2)

National OER initiatives

Telesecundaria, the Satellite Television Network (EDUSAT):

The government accommodated a large proportion of the enrolment growth in lower secondary, particularly in rural areas, through the expansion of the telesecundaria model since it required very little infrastructure and only one facilitator-teacher per grade. Lectures are given via satellite TV in 15-minute programs. In 2002, 1.2 million students were enrolled which represented about 20 percent of the total enrolment in this level. Annual costs per student were about 16 percent higher than in regular schools (counting TV programme production, supplementary materials, teacher salaries, and infrastructure). Distance learning has proved to be a cost-effective model although student achievement results and completion rates are not as high as they are in regular secondary schools (1)

Institutional OER initiatives

Mexico says that a high percentage of their instructional materials are available in digital format for viewing online although they do not know the exact quantity or if these materials are in the public domain. (2)

References

1. OER in Mexico Edition 2: File:OER Mexico Edition 2.pdf, by Terence Karran with Iris Velazquez
2. ReVica/VISCED page for Mexico (http://virtualcampuses.eu/index.php/Mexico)
3. Mexico on Wikipedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico
4. El Programa Sectorial de Educación 2007-2012 : http://upepe.sep.gob.mx/prog_sec.pdf
5. Sistema Educativo de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos Principales cifras, ciclo escolar 2007-2008
6. Mexican education system: http://neso.nuffic.nl/mexico/dutch-organizations/mexican-education-system
7. Education in Mexico, Challenges and Opportunities: http://www.worldfund.org/assets/files/RAND_Education%20in%20Mexico.pdf
8. Mexico – Higher education: http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/984/Mexico-HIGHER-EDUCATION.html
9. Educación y nuevas tecnologías : http://www.oei.es/quipu/mexico/index.html#eval
10. GISWatch 2008 – Global Information Society Watch: http://www.giswatch.org/gisw2008/country/Mexico.html
11. ECOESAD : http://www.ecoesad.org.mx/index.html
12. NetACTIVE - TOWARDS A VIRTUAL MOBILITY SCHEME: http://www.net-active.info/

Reports

• Hylén, J. et al. (2012), “Open Educational Resources: Analysis of Responses to the OECD Country Questionnaire”, OECD Education Working Papers, No. 76, OECD Publishing. http://oer.unescochair-ou.nl/?wpfb_dl=38

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