Salesian Institute Carlos Gómez has launched a senior technician university diploma program in industrial maintenance and mechatronics

(MissionNewswire) Salesian Institute Carlos Gómez, located in the city of San Luis Potosí, Mexico, has launched a senior technician university diploma program. This course provides a higher level of education than previously offered and is designed to help students obtain an engineering degree. The two curriculum pathways for this course are in industrial maintenance and mechatronics.

The program went through a lengthy certification process to be accredited by technology education authorities in Mexico and through the Salesian Provincial. Feasibility studies were done prior to the course creation that indicated its success given the industrial job sector’s growth in Mexico, particularly in the automotive sector, which requires technicians with advanced skills.

The course lasts three years and eight months. Currently, the lessons and internships are being held in the same space as the technical course at Salesian Institute Carlos Gómez. The institute is in the process of restructuring and configuring spaces for new laboratories and workshops, as well as their equipment. Once updated, the structures will allow workers from different local industries to be trained in new processes and technologies through specific collaboration programs.

According to Father Agapito Francisco Espinoza, director of Salesian Institute Carlos Gómez, these courses make the institute the first technological institution run by a religious community in the Mexican lowland area. Fr. Espinoza said, “Many young people will have the opportunity to be qualified to transform their environments according to a humanistic-Christian vision, as Don Bosco did in his time in Turin.”

Close to 52 million people in Mexico lack access to education, health care, transportation and the most basic necessities such as food and shelter. Youth in the country face a higher rate of poverty at more than 53 percent, which accounts for 20 million children and adolescents, with 5 million of those living in extreme poverty.

Salesian missionaries in Mexico primarily direct their efforts toward the country’s at-risk youth, including girls and young mothers. Creating safe havens and improving educational opportunities are essential to deter youth from life on the streets where they are susceptible to drugs and gang violence.

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Sources:

ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS)

ANS – Mexico – New impulse for Salesian technical education

Salesian Missions – Mexico

UNICEF – Mexico