Tecnológico de Monterrey's 'Tec 21' Model: Disrupting Higher Education
Welcoming a new generation of young people whose vision is completely different from their predecessors, and facing a constantly shifting global society, Tec de Monterrey is reinventing the higher education model to go hand in hand with the circumstances of the new generations: addressing the challenges of a world that has yet to be invented.
Tec21 Educational Model provides students with the fundamentals of Tec's vision: entrepreneurial spirit, commitment to ethics and citizenship, and a global outlook. Based on the competences demanded by the 21st century context, Tec21 Educational Model encourages skills for global awareness, teamwork, problem solving, written and oral communication, critical thinking, creative thinking, civic knowledge and engagement, leadership, English proficiency and social responsibility
Entrepreneurship at Tecnológico de Monterrey
Successful and exemplary entrepreneurs, whose vision of wealth creation and regional transformation trough leadership, education, courage and new venture creation still resonates in the country, have founded Tecnológico de Monterrey more than 70 years ago. Indeed, entrepreneurship has been the "DNA" of the institution since its inception.
As a private university -which has become a major player in the Mexican and Latin American regional development- Tecnológico de Monterrey is always looking for new experiences to promote entrepreneurship and innovation-based culture in all the students, communities and regions. Currently our primary and most important strategy has been to promote entrepreneurship and innovation through a distinctive educational model for entrepreneurship learning and development, aided by a network of 33 incubators, 16 business accelerators, 15 technology parks, a unique mentoring program with more than 800 high level executives. Some of the accomplishments are summarized as follows:
- Tecnológico de Monterrey incorporated entrepreneurship programs within the academic programs and community-reach activities more than 30 years ago, becoming the pioneer and leading university in Latin America on this subject.
- Subsequent to this thriving initiative, and over the following years, the institution formed and implemented a network of business incubators, business accelerators, technology parks, venture capital support activities, and mentoring, taking advantage of the unique national presence through 31 campuses in México.
- The business incubators distributed throughout the country currently serve more than 3,000 projects; in the last 10 years the incubator network has graduated more than 2,000 companies.
- The Technology Parks Network currently includes 15 Technology Parks in operation. These parks hosts more than 250 firms and had created and supported more than 3,600 high value jobs.
- In 2013, INCmty was founded, an entrepreneurship and innovation festival for entrepreneurs, innovators and investors, reaching more than 12,000 attendants in the 2015 edition.
The entrepreneurship strategy and organization at Tecnológico de Monterrey is headed by the Instituto de Emprendimiento Eugenio Garza Lagüera (a VP-level organizational unit) named after a prominent Mexican business leader.
Education on ethics and citizenship
Students at Tec de Monterrey consolidate their ethics and citizenship competencies through curricular and extra-curricular activities, particularly with social and community service projects, and student groups activities. These capabilities teach students to ponder, analyze and evaluate ethical dilemmas related to themselves, their professional practice and their context; to respect other people and their environment; to know and be sensitive about the social, economic, political and ecological context; and to act with solidarity and civic responsibility.
Internationalization
Arguably regarded as the most international university in Latin America, Tec's strategic alliances with globally renowned consortiums and universities from over 45 countries promotes students and faculty exchange, as well as research projects. The attendance of foreign students and faculty in most of the campuses shapes an international environment favoring a global competitive profile in the students.
Research
Research is centered in the graduate schools, and is heavily driven by current economic, social and technological demands and some priority areas:
- Biotechnology
- Mechatronics and Engineering
- Information Technologies, Communication and Electronics
- Sustainable development
- Public Policy
- Business
- Entrepreneurship
- Medicine
- Education, Humanities and Social Sciences
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