| The principal objective of this dissertation examined the effects of the debt crisis on financing higher education in Mexico. The secondary objective was an empirical study of the response of 131 business leaders which extended to Guadalajara and confirmed earlier research in Mexico City on recent college graduates (RCG) from Mexican universities. The respondents gave their perceptions of the ability, performance, preparation, and desired attributes of the graduates whom they employed. The remarkable consistency of their responses provides a preponderance of evidence of the urgent need to increase funding and improve higher education.;Populations increased in this decade as resources for higher education declined due to debt service. Internationalization adds a dimension to the need for higher education. Global competition for foreign markets and raw materials intensified as did the need for higher education in management due to unequal distribution of natural resources, industrial specialization, the mobility of labor, and the advances in technology, communications, and transportation.;This study concluded that the internationalization of business, emerging events in the centrally planned economies of Eastern Europe, the union of Western Europe in 1992, and the advent of the newly industrialized Asian countries and China required more from private graduate management programs and international area studies in these countries.;The future of North America is coupled to understanding change in the debtor nations of Latin America as their economic systems and large, youthful populations moved expectantly and inordinately towards democracy, open markets, and free enterprise.;While the crisis deepened Mexico renegotiated its debt portfolio. The literature showed education is a critical factor in development. Resources available to education in the debtor countries have been greatly reduced by austerity plans and negative transfers since the 1982 debt crisis. Effects of debt on growth and development need further investigation.;Recommendations are made for debt reduction on the basis of this research and participative workshops on higher education in Mexico to restore needed resources to precrisis levels, on a model for financial planning, and on linkages in higher education within North America administered and funded by debt swaps. |
