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ALLIANCE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION AND ENTERPRISE
The Alliance for Higher Education and Enterprise in North America
is a not-for-profit, non-governmental organization with a mission
to conduct research on a wide range of North American policy issues.
OVERVIEW
Recently
completed and currently ongoing projects of the Alliance include:
A study of strategies to increase community
college involvement in North American linkage and mobility activities.
Research on carbon trading regimes and other continent-wide
strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
A study comparing North American linkage and mobility activities
in a cross-section of Canadian and US institutions of higher
education.
Identification and development of databases needed to evaluate and
implement strategies for greater harmonization in a wide range
of North American policy areas including
trade, environmental managment, human capital development and mobility,
security and border relations.
A study of North American educational initiatives and progress since
the beginning of the Wingspread process.
Collaboration with NAMI in ongoing discussions of a proposed major
forum on the North American auto industry.
The decision to create the Alliance for
Higher Education and Enterprise in North America was the result
of a process of informal consultation that began in 1992 in the
United States. It is commonly known as the "Wingspread process"
after the location of the first meeting of opinion-leaders, academics
and political figures.
The Wingspread meeting charted a course for
increased and better trilateral dialogue and cooperation and was
followed by a larger conference in Vancouver, Canada in 1993 to
develop a more concrete blueprint for cooperation. By 1996, over
one thousand interested individuals from the three countries met
in Guadalajara, Mexico, where for the first time, business people
played a larger role in discussions about strategic alliances
between the private sector and institutions of higher learning.
Mexico President Ernesto Zedillo, then Minister of Public Education,
as well as Foreign Minister Rosario Green in a previous position,
participated in this process of sharing experience in higher education,
training and research.
Throughout this period and associated with
the Wingspread process, the three governments maintained an active
interest in the question of higher education through a Trilateral
Steering Committee on North American Collaboration in Higher Education,
Research and Training and coordinated the work of several working
groups of experts. Over the past six years, hundreds of people
form the United States, Mexico and Canada have participated in
the discussion of cooperation in higher education in North America
and made invaluable contributions of ideas and opinions.
After the Guadalajara conference, there existed
a broad consensus that more needed to be and could be done in
educational cooperation and in the building of partnerships with
business. However, at the same time, there were proven successes
in cooperation between universities and colleges, but there was
still little binding glue between diverse stakeholders, such as
business and universities and colleges, to maximize economies
of scale and best practices across the continent. The North American
trilateral higher education steering committee invited the North
American Institute (NAMI), as an informal, trinational non-governmental
organization with a decade-long and strong tradition in thinking
about the North American agenda, to recommend options.
In April 1998, the national governments of
Mexico, the United State and Canada endorsed the proposal of the
North American Institute to create the Alliance for Higher Education
and Enterprise in North America with a commitment to contribute
seed money from each of the three governments.
With respect to the trilateral process, the
Alliance has been discussed at the meetings of the three Foreign
Ministers held in September 1998 and September 1999 in New York
City. Senator Jack Austin, Chair of the Alliance, provided a briefing
on the current status and future directions of the Alliance to
the three Foreign Ministers at their trilateral meeting in Santa
Fe, New Mexico on August 11 and 12, 2000. During the course of
the Santa Fe Trilateral Ministerial Meeting, representatives of
the North American Institute met with the Foreign Ministers and
discussed various issues central to the Alliance agenda, including
educational exchange and building education-business linkages.
The August 12, 2000 News Release of the Santa
Fe meeting reflects a strong and continuing commitment to the
trilateral process. In sum, two broad points can be made: (1)
the Alliance and its agenda have received sustained attention
at the Ministerial level; (2) the North American Institute-to
which the Alliance has close links-has played a significant role
in the trilateral process.
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
is bringing about a much more continental view of educational
cooperation and exchange, education/business/government partnerships
and issues related to the mobility of highly skilled human resources.
These themes have been central to recent speeches by Mexico's
President, Vincente Fox, which have included a commitment to make
Mexico's educational agenda the highest priority, double the current
Mexican budgets for higher education and science and technology,
and promote educational exchange and cooperation in a trilateral
context. These developments re-enforce the relevance of the Alliance
and its mission of helping to build and sustain trilateral institutional
linkages in the areas of higher education and business.
On October 1999, Edward B. Harvey (B.A., M.A.,
University of British Columbia; PhD, Princeton University) was
appointed President of the Alliance. His mandate includes the
following areas: (1) to develop and deliver a dissemination program
to inform other organization and individuals about the mission
of the Alliance; (2) design fundable projects for the Alliance
and secure financial support; (3) serve as lead researcher in
selected project areas and provide overall supervision to Alliance
researchers in the conduct of project work; (4) provide support
to the Alliance private sector fund rising activities; (5) lead
the day-to-day management of the Alliance.
The Alliance has established funded project
and program activity in Canada, Mexico and the United States of
America. These activities include:
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Initiatives to promote
student/faculty mobility and exchange among institutions of
higher education in a trilateral context. Actions designed to
foster effective higher education/private sector partnership
building. Creating databases in the three countries to support
mobility, exchange and partnership building initiatives.
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Studies of the
financial services sector with a particular emphasis on the
regulatory and diversity management implications of an increasingly
borderless North American economy.
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Projects
focused on trilateral environmental management issues,
including harmonization of regulatory standards and
greater consistency in the training and accreditation
of environmental professionals.
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In addition
to its project and program activity, the Alliance
actively disseminates its work through conferences
and associated activities. The Alliance also maintains
close working relationships with the North American
Institute (NAMI) and its offices in Canada, Mexico
and the United States.
Inquiries regarding the Alliance for
Higher Education and Enterprise in North America should be directed to the
President of the Alliance, Dr. Edward B. Harvey.
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THE NORTH AMERICAN INSTITUTE
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NAMI-CANADA
Sen. Jack Austin
The Senate of Canada
Victoria Building
140 Wellington Street, Room 304
Ottowa, Ontario
Canada K1A 0A4
Tel: 613-992-1437
Fax: 613-995-7329
Email: [email protected]
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UNITED STATES
NAMI-U.S.
708 Paseo de Peralta
Santa Fe, NM 87501
Tel: 505.982.3657
Fax: 505.983.5840
Email: [email protected]
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NAMI-MEXICO
Amb. Jesus Reyes Heroles
StructurA
Pestalozzi 522
Colonia del Valle
Mexico DF 03020
Tel: 011 52 555 639-3791
Fax: 011 52 555 639-4624
Email: [email protected]
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©
2002 - 2017 The North American Institute |
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RELATED REPORTS
North American Linkage
Activity in Canadian and US Institutions of Higher Education (Acrobat PDF)
MORE >
Increasing Community
College Participation in
Mobility Initiatives including
Strategies to Increase
Private Sector
Involvement
MORE >
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