With the purpose of improving economic opportunity for all Mexican citizens through economic development, CETYS University in Baja, Calif., approached the University of Oklahoma Economic Development Institute (OU/EDI) a few years ago. Years of relationship building, planning and preparation went into the collaboration between Mexico and the Outreach program, resulting in the creation of OU/EDI Mexico in 2004.

    “This is the first-ever economic development institute outside the U.S.,” said Richard Little, Ed.D., OU associate vice president for Outreach. “We have made significant progress since we signed the agreement with Enrique Blancas de la Cruz, president of CETYS University, two years ago. The collaborative partnership involves delivery of OU’s nationally acclaimed Economic Development Institute to Mexico in strategically located Mexican cities.”

    Martin Martinez, coordinator of CETYS – OU/EDI said, “We initiated a dream for economic improvement through our alliance with OU/EDI and with accreditation by the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) Institutes have now been established in CETYS Mexicali, Ensenada and Tijuana.”

    The alliance is impacting the professional education of economic developers in Mexico. The first graduating class of OU/EDI Mexico consisted of 44 participants and was held in Ensenada in August 2006. Betty Kettman, director of OU/EDI, conducts economic development institutes at CETYS three times a year.

    “This is the same program we deliver in the U.S.,” Kettman said. “We are collaborating with Mexico by providing education to economic developers who go back to their communities and help improve the economy so Mexican citizens can have a better quality of life.”

    Each institute is taught by four to five instructors who are leaders in the field and who have done extensive research to apply to their applications for Mexico’s economy. CETYS also has two Mexican certified instructors from OU/EDI who teach the required economic foundation courses for enrollment in the program. Students complete the program by attending three, one-week sessions of instruction and research. The students take a session at each of CETYS locations: Mexicali, Ensenada and Tijuana.

    “I am really impressed with the students who come from throughout Mexico,” Kettman said. “They have a vision to take their education and build up Mexico’s economic base by creating jobs and opportunities there.”

    Founded in 1962, OU/EDI is the world’s economic development “teacher.” OU/EDI’s central focus is to provide economic development professionals and those aspiring to the economic development profession the tools, skills and knowledge to be successful economic developers and positively impact their communities.

    The institute conducts instructional programs in Oklahoma City and in various locations around the country. Each session lasts one week, and participants study three core areas considered to be building blocks of economic development: business retention and expansion, real estate and finance.

    OU/EDI draws its instructors from the ranks of today’s leading economic development practitioners and educators across the country. The institute is accredited by the International Economic Development Intstitute and is the only multi-year, professional level program of its type in the United States.

    More than 2,900 economic development professionals have graduated from OU/EDI with 600 new enrollments annually. Most students complete the program over the course of three calendar years, but this schedule can be accelerated by attending courses in multiple locations.