• To make the educational programmes offered by our institutions more transparent, in order to meet the demands of students, scholars, employers and civil society.

• To make Mexico’s higher education more relevant by means of three strategic programmes that will have the same structure and players, but different workings: the comparability, mobility and national chairs programmes.

• Employers will be provided with more accurate information regarding the kind of education given to students.
• This programme is also aimed at reviewing, analyzing and comparing the curricula of CUMex’s members, with a view to finding a coincidence among them, so as to develop professional profiles
• The programme will provide a mechanism whereby networks of academic bodies will be created both in Mexico and abroad, in order to contribute to scientific and technological advancement.

• Encourage student and faculty exchange in various models.
• Promote the design of joint curricula and research projects, particularly when relating to the niches of strength of CUMex’s institutions, with a view to providing professors and students with complementary education aimed at developing their competencies and skills.

NATIONAL CHAIRS PROGRAMME

The establishment of the national chairs programme reaffirms the collaborative work that has been proposed within CUMex, and among scholars from various universities in pursuit of a common goal: quality higher education. It also constitutes an endeavour to combine different ways to interact and think, which also enriches the work of the Consortium’s participants at the same time, by following these strategies:

To encourage the participation of a group of renowned scholars and professionals, both at a national and international level, in order to contribute to the development of the contents of the chairs, so as to make their work more efficient.

• To encourage joint research projects with the participation of visiting professors from Mexico and abroad.
• To encourage collaborative work through rotating chairs, with the aim of increasing the universities’ academic and scientific productivity.
• To offer courses, workshops, lectures, round-table discussions and seminars, both with the on-site and distance learning models.

The collaborative work of each of the Consortium’s players within the framework of these programmes is essential for the optimal implementation of plans and courses of action.

Each programme coordinator is chosen by their counterparts. Their tenure will last for one year. The coordinator is also responsible for providing the mechanisms and conditions under which the actions outlined in the corresponding Work Plan will be undertaken, being these the following:

• To take the minutes of meetings
• To make sure the agreements made are fulfilled, with the assistance of the programmes’ Institutional Coordinators.
• To inform their counterparts and CUMex’s Coordinator-General about the scope of goals and objectives.
• To serve as the link among their counterparts and the members of the expert committees or thematic networks.

The objective of the institutional coordinators is:

• To develop strategies within their own university aimed at achieving the goals and objectives of each programme, with the assistance of the members of the expert committees, thematic networks and other organs that may be established.

The expert committees of each thematic field will work with the programmes’ coordinators, so as to ensure the success of the activities undertaken in each programmatic forum. In addition, they may:

• Appoint a coordinator, who will be responsible for enforcing and monitoring the agreements made and actions.
• Build up thematic networks working in specific fields.
• Work with the academic bodies of CUMex’s universities, as well as with national and international bodies.

The Consortium’s Coordinator-General will serve as facilitator at each stage of this collaborative work, and as the link among the representatives of the institutions and the Council of University Presidents. Therefore, the Coordinator-General will do the following:

• Monitor the work being carried out in collaboration with each of the participants.
• Provide consultancy for each of the members working in each of the Consortium’s areas.
• Receive information provided by each programme coordinator regarding the progress made and the achievements resulting from each course of action.

The Advisory Council is the external advisory body comprised of renowned experts or professionals from Mexico or abroad. They will be permanent guests in the Consortium’s programmes, where they will provide consultancy in their field of expertise for the Council of University Presidents, as well as for the members of the expert committees and thematic networks.