UCI CONACYT Scholars
For Graduate Students Who Are Mexican Citizens
Mexican Graduate Students, Sponsored by CONACYT, Attending UCI:
UCI and CONACYT work collaboratively to provide materials on UCI graduate programs to potential Mexican students and to encourage CONACYT fellows to apply to UC programs.
- For the first two years of the students' study, CONACYT provides complete support, including nonresident tuition, student fees, medical insurance and a living stipend.
- For the third and fourth years of the student's study, CONACYT provides nonresident tuition, student fees, and medical insurance fees, and UC Mexus provides a living stipend.
- For the fifth year, UC Mexus provides nonresident tuition, student fees, and a living stipend.
CONACYT is Mexico's National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT). It is Mexico's foremost agency for the support of graduate education and research in Mexico. On July 25, 1997, the University of California (UC) and CONACYT entered into an Agreement of Cooperation in Higher Education and Research with the expressed intention to undertake joint programs in areas of mutual interest to Mexico and California. As premier academic and scientific institutions in their respective countries, UC and CONACYT are committed to the support and advancement of research. They also maintain complementary responsibilities for the training of graduate and postgraduate students in all disciplines in order to develop well-qualified academic and scientific resources.
The California-Mexico connection reflects a unique integration and interdependence of economy, commerce and society. The UC-CONACYT Agreement is designed to bring together a binational academic community that can develop solutions to common California-Mexico problems in addition to advancing scientific capabilities on both sides of the border. In order to integrate and engage the research and scientific infrastructures of Mexico and California, and to focus intellectual resources upon important binational questions, the UC-CONACYT Agreement maintains that such investigation and training must be undertaken by the University and by Mexican institutions of higher education and research as equal partners in the acquisition and application of new knowledge.
Programs
To date, the UC-CONACYT Agreement has initiated a number of highly successful academic programs that provide opportunities for collaborative research, academic exchange, and student development. These programs include, among others:
- Collaborative Research Programs - seed funds for collaborative projects for teams of UC and Mexican researchers.
- Faculty and Research Exchange - support for postdoctoral study, faculty visits, and sabbatical stays for Mexican and UC researchers.
- Graduate Student Education and Training - support to integrate Mexico's top students into UC graduate programs and support for UC graduate students to conduct independent dissertation research in Mexico as affiliates in Mexican academic and research institutions.
- Institutional Partnerships - development of long-term linkages between UC departments or research centers and Mexican institutions of research and higher education.
- California-Mexico Science and Technology Commission - a high-level forum to assist in identifying critical areas in which joint investments could be made in research and education.
- UC-Mexico Hub - establishment of a UC office in Mexico to enable the University to enhance its relationships with Mexican universities, government, industry, and associations with UC alumni.
At present, these initiatives respond, in part, to Mexico's current priority research areas in technology communications and information, biotechnology, materials sciences, manufacturing design and processes, and rural and urban infrastructure and development, including social and economic aspects, following CONACYT's Programa Especial de Ciencia y Tecnologia 2001-2006. Overall, the success and growing interest in all UC-CONACYT programs demonstrate that the Agreement indeed provides a proven framework for realizing a far-reaching vision of rich cooperative achievements between Mexico and California in the future.
For more information on the UC-CONACYT Agreement, students can contact the following:
Carol Sokolov
Assistant Dean, Graduate Academic Affiars
University of California, Irvine
Graduate Division
10 Aldrich Hall
Irvine, CA 92697-3180
949-824-7458 (voice)
949-824-9096 (fax)
csokolov@rgs.uci.edu
Clara Quijano
International Academic Programs Assistant
UC MEXUS Universitywide Headquarters
3324 Olmsted Hall
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521-0147
951-827-3582 (voice)
clara.quijano@ucr.edu
