khou.com
QUERETARO, Mexico – The thriving aerospace industry in this
prosperous state is creating thousands of new jobs in a region where
generations of young people have migrated to the United States to work.
"People
in the past didn't have these opportunities, said Jorge Vega, a student
at the Aeronautics University. "That's why they immigrated to other
states or outside the country to the United States," said Vega.
He's
enrolled in a six week job training program at the university and does
not have to pay for tuition or materials. The state covers half the
cost. Nearby aerospace companies cover the other half.
"The
curriculum is co-developed with companies," said Jorge Gutierrez de
Velasco Rodriguez, rector of the Aeronautics University.
"The
knowledge that our students and the skills that the students get at the
end of the training courses are really pretty much close to what they
will do or use at any plant," said Gutierrez.
And students of all
levels lean skills that ensure they get jobs in the thriving industry
from manufacturing, to aircraft maintenance to engineering.
"Queretaro
is well known as a big hub for aerospace in Mexico," said Marcelo Lopez
Sanchez, Secretary of Sustainable Economic Development for Queretaro.
The state is home to fastest growing aerospace cluster in Mexico with 80 companies, 8000 jobs and $1.5 billion in investment.
"It's a success story that in 10 years we have developed all these figures," said Lopez Sanchez.
"I don't doubt that it will keep growing, " said Galo Bertin, owner of Especialistas en Turbopartes.
His company supplies parts for the aerospace manufacturing plants and he has plans to expand this year to meet demand.
"All the planes for the next twenty years that are being built are already sold, " Bertin.
The
past and future seem divided by a busy highway that cuts through the
Queretaro. On one side there is open countryside and scenes of rural
life. One the other: modern aerospace manufacturing plants where the
future is taking flight. A sign in English calls it the "first Aerospace
cluster in Mexico build to suit."
That same highway has been a
well-worn path for those who left Central Mexico to look for work. Now
more young people are staying home rather than risk heading north and
trying to cross the border.
"Instead of deciding to go outside
Mexico, they are moving inside Mexico and many people are pointing at
Queretaro as an opportunity land," said Gutierrez.
"Our vision is
developing more complex, value added goods," said Gutierrez. Not just
handcrafted goods but "mind crafted," he said.
Half of the students enrolled have never attended a University.
"I've
liked it. I've learned a lot," said Carla Cecilia Rios Martinez, a
student enrolled in a job training program where she learned to operate
machinery for an aerospace manufacturing company.
"I'd like to consider engineering," said Rios.
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