Universidad de Monterrey (UDEM)

Mission Statement

The University of Monterrey, located in Nuevo Leon province in northern Mexico, is a private institution established in 1969 by a group of entrepreneurs, educators, and other civic leaders who sought to promote a holistic approach to education in which students would acquire professional skills, social consciousness, and humanistic perspective together with a sense of fulfillment through service to others. UDEM seeks to produce graduates who are instruments for positive change and justice in the world, committed to the ideals of service and excellence, and capable of taking the leadership needed to move their region, their nation, and their world forward. Our Vision for 2020 As we move towards 2020, the Universidad de Monterrey will endeavor to continue developing as an educational community that stands out for promoting an academic culture of excellence and furthermore, for encouraging its members to make a commitment both to integrity and to adherence to humanistic values. We are a community united by the common aspiration of contributing to the construction of a sustainable society through knowledge and the spirit of service.

International Role

For forty years, the university has made remarkable progress. Close to 12,000 students attend the high schools, undergraduate programs, and graduate and professional schools that have become well known and well regarded throughout the nation and internationally. UDEM has 192 bilateral agreement with high quality ranked institutions around the world such as, Rice, Harvard, Stanford, University of Texas (Austin), University of California Berkeley, Art Center of Design in California, Griffith University, Swinburne University, Koc University, Politecnico di Milanio-INDACO, Aarhus University, Parsons Paris School of Art, Chinese University of Hong Kong, University of Hong Kong, among others. Also the university is participating in a variety of international consortia and associations such as: ISEP, DAAD, CONAHEC, ICOGRADA, British Design and Art Direction, Design Management Institute etc. The university having an active role in international education it has been awarded with several recognitions as followed: 1. UDEM is internationally accredited by SACS (Southern Association of Collegiate Schools in the US). 2. In 2009 won the Andrew Heiskell Award for Innovation in Internationalization recognition given by the International Institute of Education. 3. During 2010 and 2011 has won Best International Practice Award “Multicultural Leadership between Wharton School of Business and UDEM”, Best International Practice Award “Transformational Leadership and Service Projects in Rural Areas”, Best Practice Award “UDEM Helps: Developing Civic Engagement“ and “Global Institute for Leadership and Civic Development” and recently the university it has been awarded by the International Good Neighbor Council with the “Muguerza-Garret 2011” award for excelling and promoting international partnerships and cooperation between USA and Mexico. Finally, UDEM has a total of 335 international agreements and presence in 61 different countries and a variety of more than 900 international opportunities where the students, professors and staff can participate.

National Role

By working with a variety of national organizations as well as key Mexican allies. UDEM has reached its current level of excellence without state or federal funding, adhering to the view of its founders that a privately funded institution of higher education could chart a flexible and innovative course while adhering to its core values. The university has strong linkages nationally and regionally, for example with the industry works closely with companies like Schneider Electric, Ternium, Alfa Group, FEMSA, CEMEX, DEACERO, etc. Also, works closely with regional hospitals, state and federal government.

Main Focus

For fifty years, the university has made remarkable progress. UDEM has been oriented towards Humanities, Education and Health Sciences, however in addition the university has taken advantage of the educational, economic, entrepreneurial, and cultural assets that Nuevo Leon and San Pedro Garza Garcia (suburb area close to Monterrey city with the highest income per capita in the country). Currently the university is committing itself to the preservation of Art, Architecture and Design through its Roberto Garza Sada Center, unique and only one in Latin America which is an investment of more than 40 million dollars, designed and supervised by famous Architect Tadao Ando. UDEM is seeking to be recognized as the best university in Mexico and in Latin America in Art, Architecture and Design. The university is: •International, requiring English language proficiency of its graduates, offering more than 60 opportunities for international student and faculty exchanges, and working with such U.S. colleges and universities as Rice, Harvard, University of Texas (Austin), Indiana University, and University of California Berkeley; •Focused on developing leadership and civic formation, with students mandated to complete 480 hours of substantive community service as part of their graduation requirement and summer programs combining Spanish language education and community service opportunities; •Innovative, for example offering its technology and science students the opportunity to address and solve real-world business and industry problems and see their solutions through to adoption; •Community oriented, providing micro-credit and business formation assistance to local community members, offering free or low-cost diagnostic health care to the area’s low-income residents, and providing high school education to low-income youth; •Committed to higher education, working with Harvard University and others in the Higher Education Institutional Leaders collaboration to train nearly 2,000 university presidents and directors; •Internationally recognized and validated, being one of five Latin American universities accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and is also accredited by the International Schools Association and the Private Mexican Higher Education Institutions organization; •Oriented toward the future, with the goal of having 12,000 full-time students and three signature academic programs (rated among the best in Mexico and Latin America) by 2010.