Over 600,000 STEM students graduate from the U.S. on a yearly basis, while 4.8m and 2.7m STEM students graduate from China and India, respectively. To put it simply, these countries are investing in their future, while developing the skills necessary for their workforce to compete in the Fourth Industrial Revolution .
seeks to instill in Mexico youth the skills to compete in the 21st-century labor environment, with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics at its core.
In an interview with Maralá Goode , Strategic Alliance Manager at Movimiento STEM Mexico , for EL UNIVERSAL in English , we appreciated the comprehensive vision of the project led by founder and president Graciela Rojas , which seeks to create an "ecosystem that inspires Mexico minds to impact the world we live in" in the face of present and future challenges.
Only yesterday, Movimiento STEM Mexico signed a collaboration agreement with BE International and UNESCO's Center for Peace which seeks to prompt 15 Mexican students to experience international education at Hood College in Frederick Maryland, U.S.as part of the Center for Peace IMUN and STEM Summer Program .
Though students from private schools have attended the program for the past five years, yesterday's memorandum of understanding is the first formal agreement by which UNESCO's Center for Peace reaches out to Mexico NGOs to work under STEM methodology.
"The result of our partnership is enabling Mexican students from junior and senior high levels to participate in UNESCO's International Summer Camp as part of scholarships funded by private companies based in Mexico.", said Guy Djoken , CEO and Executive Director of UNESCO's Center for Peace.
15 Mexican students, from private and public schools, will benefit from what the IMUN and STEM Summer Program offers resulting from a screening process run by STEM ambassadors , 5000 teachers tasked with identifying talented students eligible to attend UNESCO's International Summer Camp from over 250,000 learners, with the funding of private Mexican companies and companies based in Mexico.
STEM methodology challenges students to solve problems of the world we live in via project-based solutions, collaborative learning, and scientific-mathematical inquiry-based approaches, with the aim of proving a qualified workforce of engineers for companies in Mexico.
Tania Martínez García
, founder, and president of BE International explains how the initiative drives Mexican middle education students to have "access to international education and foster competitiveness in areas such as science and technology, through UNESCO's comprehensive skills such as human rights, intercultural understanding, and tolerance and STEM's innovation, critical thinking, science and essential skills to face global challenges."
Guy Djoken reminded how UNESCO was founded 70 years ago to bring peace and security around the world through education, science, culture, and communication:
"UNESCO is one of the few agencies in the U.N. that has a civil society, we see ourselves as the grassroots, the foot soldiers of the organization. As a man busted organization, we have the civil society and we have different rules and regulations that allow us to work with different people, as part of that we are encouraged to form partnerships and alliances wherever it is needed to help implement the ideals of UNESCO."
The strategic alliance signed yesterday in Mexico City at BE International headquarters seeks to "provide opportunities for young Mexican students who are interested ins sciences to do more", as noted by Djoken.
Stay tuned for more of STEM partnership with UNESCO and BE International, as well as for exclusive interviews with the people behind this valuable project on our Twitter and Facebook channels.
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