Outsourcing education

To stem nursing shortage, state plans to send bilingual students to Mexico, but some say money would be better spent in California

By Keith Darcé
STAFF WRITER

September 16, 2007



HOWARD LIPIN / Union-Tribune
To accommodate larger enrollment, some nursing schools have added patient simulation labs such as this new center at Maric College in San Diego where Priscilla Ochoa (center) and Maria Javier-Garcia (right) practice CPR on a mannequin.
With nursing schools in California falling several thousand graduates short of meeting demand each year, state labor officials are seeking help in an unlikely place.

If all goes as planned, as many as 40 bilingual Californians now stuck on nursing school waiting lists will begin classes in January at a college in Guadalajara, Mexico – apparently the first attempt by any state to outsource nursing education to another country.

Program supporters say it's a reasonable way to train more Californians, especially those who can work in communities that need more Spanish-speaking health care workers.

“The concept is meant to be a niche solution,â€