Baja Bernie - 8-30-2006 at 06:50 AM
August 29, 2006
Nuevo Laredo News
Border College Fills US Nursing Jobs
Seizing on a US demand for nurses, some Mexican
institutions of higher education are stepping up their
training of new health care professionals. In Nuevo Laredo,
for instance, the Autonomous University of Tamaulipas (UAT)
is turning out more and more graduates for the US job
market. Francicso Cadena Santos, UAT nursing faculty
director, said 11 of his school's recent graduates are
planning to work in New York soon.
"The only thing they are lacking is an accredited English
class that a teacher from the Technological Institute of
Monterrey will give them here," Cadena said. According to
Cadena, a dozen UAT nursing graduates are already working
in the United States- five in the neighboring city of
Laredo, Texas, and seven others in San Diego, California.
Cadena said UAT graduates in the United States earn an
initial wage of $35 dollars per-hour during the course of
eight-hour work shifts. Cadena added that the Mexican
nurses receive work visas and are eligible to bring their
families too. The nursing school supervisor said more men
are now attracted to the nursing profession. Three of the
eleven new nurses that anticipate heading to New York are
males, Cadena said.
An ongoing shortage of US nurses is fueling a boom in the
UAT nursing school's student enrollment. According to
Cadena, the number of students enrolled in his school's
nursing program shot up from 120 students to 750 students
during the last three years.
Source: Enlineadirecta.info, August 28, 2006. Article by
Gaston Monge.
Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico