About This Project

Higher education cooperation is growing across the U.S.–Mexico border, yet little is known about how these networks form and endure amid geopolitical tension. This project asks how governance shapes their development. Using mixed methods, it will map partnerships, research collaboration and mobility, and examine key actors across scales. It aims to reveal whether these dynamics are producing a coherent U.S.–Mexico border higher education region.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Higher education cooperation is becoming increasingly important as geopolitical tensions reshape international relations. The U.S.–Mexico border is deeply interconnected economically and socially, yet marked by persistent tensions around migration, security and trade. Universities across the border already collaborate through research partnerships, student mobility, joint programmes and regional consortia, alongside national initiatives such as FOBESII. Yet little is known about how these forms of cooperation interact across different governance levels. This project investigates how local, state, national, and bilateral actors build and sustain higher education cooperation across the border, and whether these interactions contribute to the emergence of a distinctive U.S.–Mexico Border Higher Education Region.

What is the significance of this project?

Most research on higher education regionalism focuses on formal regional blocs such as the European Union, ASEAN or MERCOSUR. Much less is known about how higher education regions emerge across national borders without a formal supranational structure. The U.S.–Mexico border therefore offers an important case for understanding whether universities and subnational actors can sustain regional cooperation even when national politics become more contentious. By connecting higher education studies, border studies and geopolitics, the project will generate new evidence on how institutional partnerships operate across different governance scales and how geopolitical tensions enable or constrain cooperation. Its findings can also inform universities and policymakers seeking to strengthen resilient cross-border academic collaboration.

What are the goals of the project?

The project examines how governance mechanisms shape higher education regionalism across the U.S.–Mexico border. It will study three major corridors: California–Baja California, Arizona–Sonora, and Texas–northern Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas). It will build a quantitative dataset on institutional partnerships, joint research, student mobility, and bilateral initiatives; map their geography, intensity, and evolution; identify key actors and interests across governance levels; and examine how national initiatives interact with territorially grounded partnerships. Comparing the three corridors, the project will assess how geopolitical tensions shape cooperation and whether these patterns are contributing to a coherent U.S.–Mexico Border Higher Education Region. The final number of universities and partnerships will be determined during the initial mapping phase using predefined inclusion criteria.