De Anza College President Martha Kanter and Maria Elena Riddle, Acting President of The National Hispanic University (NHU), signed a Memorandum of Understanding on April 17, 2003 to provide a cooperative framework to establish the De Anza/NHU Higher Education Partnership Program.

The intent of the program is two-fold:

• to increase the number of Hispanics, women, other minorities and others in the Silicon Valley attending and graduating from De Anza College and NHU; and
  

• to strengthen the capabilities of NHU and De Anza College to meet the educational needs of the Hispanic community in the South Bay.

"We are delighted to provide students with the opportunity to transfer from De Anza College to The National Hispanic University, one of only three accredited universities in the United States designated as a Hispanic-serving institution by the federal government," Kanter said.  "This partnership will enrich the options for the growing number of Hispanic students seeking higher education in Silicon Valley."

"Higher education today faces the challenge of serving increasing numbers of students with drastically reduced budges and fiscal resources," Riddle said.  "This articulation agreement and partnership between The National Hispanic University and De Anza College is an effort to create efficient and manageable pathways for students to achieve their educational goals, particularly for those students who are traditionally underrepresented at the university level and are the first generation in their families to pursue a college degree."

The transfer admission agreement will give students the opportunity to earn their baccalaureate degrees at NHU after completing the first two years at De Anza.  With the addition of NHU, De Anza has transfer agreements with 13 colleges and universities.  Kanter was recently appointed a trustee of NHU.