Higher Education Regionalization in the Northern Triangle of Central America: Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras

The ongoing migrant crisis that engulfs the U.S.-Mexico border is often the source of political and socioeconomic discourse related to the treatment of those caught in the web of immigration politics or the causes of migration to the U.S. from Mexico and Central America. One related, critical conversation involves the future stability of countries neighboring the southern region of Mexico -- El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Together they comprise the northern region of Central America, increasingly referred to as the "Northern Triangle" (NT). The region is documented for its lower levels of human development, high rates of violent crime, low school completion rates and high rates of poverty (Meyer and Seelke 2015; Congressional Research Service 2019). In recent years, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has supported efforts towards public health, business development, efficient government institutions and the scaling up of postsecondary education through grants with regional and international partners. In 2014, the Plan of the Alliance for the Prosperity of the Northern Triangle (A4P) was developed by the leaders of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, in partnership with the U.S. to improve overall living conditions through coordination efforts focused on areas of need including access to basic healthcare, nutrition, education and employment opportunities (Inter-American Development Bank 2014). While the Plan of the Alliance does not explicitly reference the role of higher education (HE), the authors argue that it is reasonable and important to question how and if higher education institutions (HEIs) from the NT can contribute to improving social and economic conditions in the region. One important question about HE in the region is the level of collaboration between HEIs within the region that exists and how much of it is dependent on external support compared to available resources within the NT. This paper examines existing HE partnerships through a theoretical lens of higher education regionalization led by Knight's (2013) framework for regionalization. This paper begins to answer that question by exploring the depth of collaboration between HEIs in the NT region. How many partnerships are there and what are the context of those partnerships? This article offers an important overview of the current state of HE collaboration in the region and how future collaborations might be fostered.