Arizona State University’s film school partners with Mexican institute at LA campus

PHOENIX — Arizona State University is partnering with Mexico’s University of Guadalajara to give film students new opportunities at the recently-opened downtown Los Angeles campus, the California Center, ASU announced.

ASU President Michael Crow and University of Guadalajara President Ricardo Villanueva Lomeli signed an agreement Sunday to connect the UdeG Film School and ASU’s Sidney Poitier New American Film School for joint projects, student and faculty exchanges and online education opportunities.

“One of the things that we’re trying to do at ASU, in a part of the United States that was occupied from Mexico, has been to make certain that as we evolve as a university, we evolve with the closest possible cultural, intellectual, political, economic, transcultural connections and awareness that we could possibly structure our institution around,” Crow said in a press release.

“This relationship is a part of that effort.”

UdeG will staff a working space at the California Center and have access to resources at the campus and online programs.

Online learning opportunities will be offered through UdeG’s online university, ASU’s online arm, EdPlus and ASU Prep Digital for K-12 students.

Mexican nationals living in the U.S. will be able to enroll in UdeG digital education, while both universities are planning on offering programs to Hispanics in Los Angeles.

“There are more than 2 million people from the Mexican state of Jalisco living in the United States; 58% of them live in California, and for them to have a presence from their home university would be invaluable,” Villanueva Lomelí said in the release.

“That is why we make the attempt at bringing cultural activities closer to the two million Jaliscienses that we could not retain in the country. We have to come to L.A. and be closer to them.”

ASU has collaborated with UdeG before.

In 2020, Arizona State created a transfer pathway program called Acceso ASU for students of four Mexican universities, including UdeG.

Sunday’s agreement took place amid a series of events at the California Center to highlight ASU’s expansion in L.A.

The Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and Thunderbird School of Global Management also have programs at the California campus.

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