Former President of Mexico on how his time in Bradford shaped him and the importance of international cooperation

His time on a 12-week course at the University of Bradford in 1973 was among particularly transformative experiences, he says, and the 71-year-old will return to his alma mater this month - 50 years on - to receive an honorary doctorate of letters, in recognition for his achievements on the world stage. “At every step of my education I was blessed to encounter teachers who were exemplary, and my brief time at Bradford wasn’t an exception,” Ernesto reflects. “My instructors had a keen interest in the problems of developing countries which I embraced and have kept ever since.

“Also, it was at Bradford where I acquired a sense of belonging to a world beyond the borders of my beloved Mexico. I had never been abroad and there I was at the University of Bradford meeting and enjoying fellows from many countries. Frankly I had never met people from places like Ghana, Nigeria, Nepal, Philippines, Yugoslavia and many others. Being part of that fascinating group, started my formation as the Mexican global citizen of the world that proudly I am today.”

Born in a working-class family, Ernesto’s parents placed a great emphasis and effort on their children’s education. He earned his bachelor's degree from the School of Economics of the National Polytechnic Institute in Mexico and his M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. degrees at Yale University. After finishing his undergraduate studies and thanks to a scholarship granted by the British Council, he attended the University of Bradford in the summer of 1973 to study project evaluation.

After completing his education at Yale, Ernesto returned to Mexico to teach and do economic research, but as his work increasingly dealt with public policy issues, his career became one of public service and politics. At a relatively young age, he became a Deputy Director at the Central Bank of Mexico; Deputy Minister of the Budget; Minister of Economic Programming and the Budget; and Minister of Education. At 42, in 1994, he was elected President of Mexico.

Ernesto, who started the first conditional-cash transfer-program in the world, which has been replicated in many developing countries to combat poverty, says: “If becoming the president was accidental, the same could be said about the other important stages of my career. Every time there were difficult circumstances, I was promoted to a more complex responsibility.

"That was true in 1982 when the debt crisis started in Mexico, and I was assigned a job to help solve it. I like to think that without the debt crisis that led to the so-called lost decade of Latin America’s development, I would have remained, happily, a low-key economist doing research at Mexico’s Central Bank. But the difficulties faced my country animated my strong wish to do public service where it was most needed - in the design and execution of policies to stabilize the economy and deal with the long-standing impediments for Mexico’s development.”

Asked what advice he might give to graduates of 2023, he says: “What you have acquired is a tool not just to serve yourself but to serve your community, your country, and the whole of humanity, first and foremost by doing a fine job, with integrity and dedication.” “One of the things that was taught at Bradford, which was at the core of our training, was the relevance of applying resources to their best social use, not just the private one,” he adds. “To think about the collective interest - not just the individual one - is crucial, not just at the national level but equally at the global level.

"If you want a vibrant global market economy, which is something we need not only for economic prosperity but also for reasons of international peace and stability, it must be acknowledged you also need a system of global governance...The expansion of the global economy is not being matched by the construction of the required global governance. This mismatch is bound to bring about significant problems as already shown during the great financial crisis of 2008-2009 and the failure to deal effectively with climate change, among other international problems.”

Ernesto now concerns himself with numerous activities, not least teaching at Yale, serving in numerous international independent commissions, and being a member of The Elders, the group founded by Nelson Mandela with a remit to promote global peace, prosperity, social justice and a sustainable planet.

“The Elders stress the importance of international cooperation and the respect of international law and multilateral institutions to achieve peace and development throughout the world. We believe in the protection of human rights as the supreme covenant of international law. We regret the mounting disregard for international law and institutions currently shown by great powers, certainly by Russia with its criminal invasion of Ukraine but also by other powers in recent history as in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Human progress can be stopped and reversed if the world moves as in the past to the rule of power and abandons, rather than reforms, the rules-based international system built painstakingly since the end of the Second World War.”