Opinion: Consortium brings new era for binational education in CaliBaja

By any measure, the CaliBaja region is one of the most economically dynamic cross-border corridors in the world. More than 7 million people live and work in an area linked by nine ports of entry, including San Ysidro — the busiest land border crossing in the Western Hemisphere, with 69 million crossings last year alone. The economic interdependence is unmistakable: 97% of San Diego’s exports go to Mexico, and Baja California sends more than $55 billion in goods annually to the United States.

Yet despite this deep integration, our educational systems and talent pipelines still operate as if we are two disconnected regions rather than a single, unified economic ecosystem. To unlock CaliBaja’s full potential, we must move beyond thinking in terms of the “U.S. side” and the “Mexico side” and instead recognize the region as one interconnected whole.

Across industries — from manufacturing to biotech, clean energy, logistics and hospitality — employers on both sides of the border face the same challenge: a rapidly growing demand for skilled workers. Tens of thousands of students already cross the border daily, many traveling from Tijuana to San Diego for school. Yet our higher education systems have never been structured to fully support this kind of binational flow of talent.

Because our region’s economy is highly interconnected, our education and workforce systems benefit from alignment as well. That is why we and our partner institutions have launched the CaliBaja Higher Education Consortium (CHEC) — not as a symbolic gesture, but as a response to a real regional need. CaliBaja Higher Education Consortium unites universities and organizations across the region — including UC San Diego, San Diego State University, the University of San Diego, Southwestern Community College District, CETYS Universidad, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, Universidad Iberoamericana, Universidad Tecnológica de Tijuana, El Colegio de la Frontera Norte and the UC San Diego Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies — alongside both consulates and key civic partners such as the Secretaría de Educación de Baja California, the Smart Border Coalition, Tijuana Innovadora and the Border Philanthropy Partnership. Together, these institutions are building a modern binational infrastructure for talent development.

CaliBaja Higher Education Consortium has established permanent working groups focused on mobility, accreditation, talent development, legislation and governance — areas where collaboration can significantly increase educational opportunity and workforce readiness. These groups are not discussing ideas in theory; they are developing solutions that institutions across CaliBaja can implement together.

Consider Assemblymember David Álvarez’s Assembly Bill 91, a state law that allows eligible Mexican students who live near the border to pay in-state tuition at certain California institutions. This policy has the potential to expand access to higher education for thousands of students, and CaliBaja Higher Education Consortium is working to ensure that the region takes full advantage of this opportunity.

Similarly, the consortium’s efforts on mobility and accreditation are designed to streamline student transitions across institutions, support binational internships and research collaborations, and remove administrative barriers that often slow progress. This approach reflects the way the region already operates in practice.

The CaliBaja region has long demonstrated that collaboration can strengthen economic and educational opportunities for communities on both sides of the border. Our universities work closely with the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana and the Mexican Consulate General in San Diego, as well as with business leaders and civil society organizations, to support initiatives that benefit the entire region.

CaliBaja shows what is possible when institutions focus on shared goals and practical solutions that serve the broader community. This spirit of cooperation is essential as we prepare the next generation of leaders, researchers and professionals.

A region as interconnected as ours needs educational pathways that are just as interconnected. The launch of the CaliBaja Higher Education Consortium is an invitation — to educators, policymakers, industry partners and community organizations — to join in shaping the region’s future.

The CaliBaja Higher Education Consortium is open to new members, and we welcome additional universities, community colleges and research institutes across the region to participate. The work ahead is ambitious, but the potential benefits — a more skilled workforce, stronger industries, better jobs and deeper cross-border collaboration — are transformative.

When CaliBaja works collaboratively, the entire region benefits. Our students benefit. Our industries benefit. Our communities benefit. And together, we build a more prosperous future on both sides of the border.

De la Torre is president of San Diego State University. Khosla is chancellor of the University of California San Diego. SDSU and UC San Diego, along with CETYS Universidad and Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, are the four universities on the CaliBaja Higher Education Consortium steering committee.