The College of the Northern Border – Mexico
Alberto Hernández Hernández, President
Through scientific research and high-level teaching, El Colef has for more than three decades contributed to the development of capacities for the study of social, economic, demographic, cultural, political and environmental phenomena linked to border regions and Mexico's relations with the United States.
The College of the Northern Border (El Colef) is a public research center of Conacyt, which for more than thirty years has contributed, through scientific research and high-level teaching, to the study of social, economic, demographic, political and environmental phenomena linked to the border regions of Mexico with the United States of America.
In 1982, in the city of Tijuana, BC, the Center for Border Studies of Northern Mexico (CEFNOMEX) was founded, which would change its name to El Colegio de la Frontera Norte in 1986, with the objective of being a source of specialized studies and of training human capital that would give answers and alternatives to the challenges on the northern border of the country, it is from this approach that the research carried out is associated in the conception, design and evaluation of public policies and in the understanding of phenomena and processes that occur on the border.
From this perspective, the geographical distribution of its campuses along 3,300 km allows El Colef to cover the extensive border region between Mexico and the United States, with facilities in eight cities: Tijuana, Mexicali, Nogales, Ciudad Juárez, Piedras Negras, Monterrey, Matamoros, and Mexico City.
However, El Colef's main contribution to knowledge in the area of Social Sciences comes through its human capital, with an academic staff of 132 researchers, distributed across the campuses and attached to the different academic departments of the institution, as well as its students who are part of the postgraduate programs in face-to-face and online modalities.
El Colef has six academic departments: Population Studies; Urban and Environmental Studies; Social Sciences; Economics; Public Administration; and Cultural Studies. Its main lines of research and knowledge generation address diverse topics such as environmental change, natural resources, employment, occupation and labor institutions, innovation, productive organization and work, economics, integration and development, residency, security and human rights, migration and cross-border mobility, institutions, governance and development, cultural processes, and population. In addition, El Colef has several projects focused on current events, providing specific inputs that aim to be a tool for developing public policies.
In the area of teaching, the institution offers on-campus postgraduate programs such as the Doctorate in Social Sciences with a specialization in Regional Studies; the Doctorate in Cultural Studies; and the Doctorate in Migration Studies; Master's degrees in Integrated Environmental Management; Regional Development; Applied Economics; Cultural Studies; Population Studies; Public Action and Social Development; and Integrated Water Management. Additionally, a significant online educational offering has been established, including programs such as the Master's in International Migration Studies; as well as the Specialization in International Migration and the Specialization in 21st-Century Urban Studies.
El Colef, 39 years after its founding, is an academic center with a cross-border perspective on social phenomena, internationally recognized for the academic rigor of its research and the quality of its graduate programs. It also aims to be a key player in the design of public policies and a generator of thematic agendas for the region.
The collection of publications from the El Colef publishing house, as well as the academic journals: International Migration y Northern BorderAnd more recently, Encartes, in collaboration with other related institutions, as well as the library system based in Tijuana, has become the most comprehensive and important source of information for understanding the border region and its challenges, primarily focusing on studies of migration, the environment and natural resources, culture and history, population dynamics, industry and employment, economics, governance, and urbanization. The diverse topics are addressed from a wide range of perspectives and with proven and recognized theoretical frameworks within their respective fields of specialization. Currently, El Colef's publishing catalog comprises more than 350 titles.
For more information visit: www.colef.mx
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