Teaching, Internships, Exchanges and Scholarships (TIES)

The Alamo Community College District (ACCD), in collaboration with the Universidad Tecnológica de Coahuila (in Saltillo) and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (TAMUCC), have formed an international institutional partnership between three Mexican technical colleges and three American community colleges to infuse proven workforce development solutions to help Mexico adapt to global competition, new technology and emerging workforce skill gaps in the maquiladora manufacturing sector, titled “Partnership to Improve Productivity in Mexico’s Maquiladora Manufacturing Sector.”

The primary objective of the partnership is to increase the productivity of maquiladora manufacturing workers. Three hundred workers who are at risk due to the infusion of newer manufacturing technologies, will participate in short-term workforce solutions courses.

The primary activity of our partnership is training provided by faculty from the United States from the Alamo Community College District, Texas State Technical College (Harlingen) and El Paso Community College, teaching courses at their respective partner institutions as identified by the project (respectively, the Universidad Tecnológica de Coahuila, Universidad Tecnológica de Matamoros, and the Universidad Tecnológica de Ciudad Juárez). Courses include the following: Blueprints I & II; Programmable Logic Controls I, II & III; Technical English; Computer Numerical Control; Lean Manufacturing; Industrial Maintenance I, II & III; ISO 14000/9001/2000; Computer-aided Design/Computer-aided Manufacturing I & II; and AutoCAD.

A secondary activity involves seven faculty from the three Mexican institutions completing 18 credits at the Masters level at the Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi.

TIES is funded by USAID and administered through the Higher Education for Development (HED) office in Washington, DC. The Office of International Programs manages the project for the ACCD. We are the lead U.S. institution, in partnership with the Universidad Tecnológica de Coahuila (Technological University of Coahuila, in Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico).

For more information, contact Mark Hagen.