IPN Signs Agreement with the University of Buenos Aires

Reporter: Cecilia Balderas / Photographer: Israel Vera

The agreement with the University of Buenos Aires will promote academic mobility and research on “fracking.”

The Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN) and the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) signed a Specific Academic Mobility Agreement that will allow Polytechnic students, faculty members, and researchers to complete part of their studies at the Argentine institution, and vice versa.

Representatives from both institutions agreed that one of the first areas for joint research and collaborative projects could focus on the extraction of unconventional resources, such as fracking, an activity that requires advanced technology and in which Argentina, through the UBA, has developed expertise since 2012, following the discovery of the Vaca Muerta reserve in Patagonia.

Last April 15, President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo announced the creation of a high-level Scientific Committee, in which the IPN participates, to evaluate the feasibility of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in Mexico.

Representing the Polytechnic, IPN Secretary of Innovation and Social Integration Yessica Gasca Castillo signed the agreement with the UBA after presenting information on the Institute’s academic offerings, main research areas and lines of investigation, the priority projects of the Government of Mexico involving the IPN, and the composition of the Polytechnic community.

In his remarks, UBA Secretary of International Relations Patricio Conejero Ortiz highlighted the contributions the IPN has made over the past 90 years to Mexico’s development and the strengthening of local capabilities.

“For the University of Buenos Aires, being here today and beginning to establish concrete lines of collaboration with you, to develop a strategic alliance between our institutions, is both an honor and part of our objective to diversify partnerships in Mexico,” he stated.

IPN Secretary of Research and Graduate Studies Martha Leticia Vázquez González noted that the Polytechnic already has experience developing joint graduate programs, particularly with institutions across Europe, which could be replicated with the UBA. Under these programs, students complete part of their studies in both countries and receive degrees from both universities.

Meanwhile, IPN Academic Secretary María Isabel Rojas Ruiz emphasized the importance of including upper secondary education students in academic mobility programs to foster their comprehensive development.