2015.08.24

　On August 12, more than 500 people attended the opening ceremony for Mexican Technical College, the first technical college in Mexico, was held at the lecture hall of the headquarters of the University of Guanajuato in Mexico.
　The attendees of the ceremony included the following distinguished individuals: Mr.Marquez, Governor of the State of Guanajuato; Dr.Cabrera, President of the University of Guanajuato (GU); President of the high school attached to the University of Malta; Vice-Minister of the Federal Ministry of Secondary and Higher Education; Mexican government officials such as a Supreme Court Justice; Mr.Shimizu, Minister of the Embassy of Japan in Mexico; Dr.Izutsu, Director of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science - San Francisco office; as well as NUT and KOSEN affiliated personnel such as Dr.Niihara, President of Nagaoka University of Technology (NUT); Dr.Watanabe, President of National institute of Technology, Nagaoka college; Dr.Nakamura, President of National institute of Technology, Fukushima college; Dr.Kusakabe, President of National institute of Technology, Ibaraki college; and Dr.Ookubo, President of National institute of Technology, Oyama college. In addition, executives of several Japanese-owned companies, including major automobile enterprises, were present. The opening ceremony that conveyed a sense of expectation for the Mexican version of KOSEN (college of technology).
　The plan has been developed cooperatively by NUT and GU for about three years since the advance of Japanese companies, mainly in the automobile industry, began to concentrate in the Guanajuato region, Mexico. We considered that it would become necessary to produce engineers who support Japanese-owned companies. Toyota Motor Corporation chose to advance into the region, the so-called Mexican Detroit, in 2019. Engineers who have specialized knowledge are desperately needed. The Mexican version of KOSEN is expected to develop human resources will be able to support the industrial world. The Mexican version of KOSEN was established as a school attached to GU, which introduced the Japanese KOSEN system and which was expected to have a considerable influence on and to contribute a great extent to the improvement of the level of technology in the manufacturing sector in Mexico by the overseas export of the Japanese “KOSEN-NUT” practical manufacturing education system. For the planning and establishment of the Mexican version of KOSEN, the State of Guanajuato responded by changing laws for the establishment of the high school – university integrated education course because no concept of junior college existed in Mexico. The KOSEN was born as a result of which the two schools’ enthusiasm, which was harnessed to obtain cooperation from the state. As the first students to the new college, 34 students were accepted for Mechatronics KOSEN Course at Salamanca High School and 16 students of the Materials Science KOSEN Course at the University of Guanajuato. The students can acquire specialized knowledge in the two fields and Japanese-style manufacturing technology and can learn Japanese language intensively in the five-year course. To support efficiency from Japan, video and TV lectures that make good use of network conferencing systems introduced by NUT and long-term training in Japan are incorporated. They are intended for promotion in collaboration and cooperation with NUT and four KOSENs in Japan (National Institute of Technology, Nagaoka, Fukushima, Ibaraki, and Oyama Colleges).
　During the opening ceremony at GU, Dr. Niihara, President of NUT was awarded a testimonial for his efforts on behalf of the introduction of the KOSEN-UT (university of technology) education system and the establishment of the Mexican version of KOSEN.