The construction process of the Ewha Paju Education and Research Complex (ERC), which is located in Youngtae-ri, Wollong-myon, Paju in Kyonggi Province, is expected to speed up as Ewha won a lawsuit against people holding private lands in December, 2008.
     Built on a 245-acre site, the Paju ERC will have dormitories and research facilities focusing on humanities, foreign language training, life-long education, information technology, nanotechnology, and biotechnology. The school plans to finish building all the facilities and dormitories by 2019.
     The main purpose of building the Paju ERC is to secure enough spaces for research to strengthen professors’ and students’ research capabilities. Professor Kyn Hyo-gun (Business), the dean of Office of University Planning and Coordination, confirmed that no university departments or colleges are planning to move in to Paju
     “Sinchon campus is too crowded for conducting more research, meeting the full workload demanded by the government and some of other private institutions,” said Professor Choe Keum-sook (Law), the dean of the Office of University Relations and Development at Ewha.
     According to the President Lee Bae-yong’s April 6 interview with the Ewha Weekly in this, Paju complex signifies Ewha’s aspiration towards the unification of the Korean Peninsula as the city is located near the border between South Korea and North Korea. Lee added that the Global Peace Center (GPC, a tentative name), aiming to nurture future generation to lead peace movement in the world will be built in the complex as well. Research topics such as multiculturalism, poverty, women’s education in North Korea will be dealt with in the GPC.
     However, the construction plan faced a rough start. The Building site for Paju ERC includes both private land and land of Camp Edward, the former military base for the U.S. army. Ewha was involved in a lawsuit against people holding the private land from August, 2008. However, the judge ruled in favor of Ewha.
     The work related to building of the complex itself is expected to go smoothly. Its process of building sewage disposal facilities in Camp Edward, started in this April. “Building sewage disposal facilities in Camp Edward is wholly supported by Korean government including the financial part as well,” said Choe. Also dismantling military facilities started in April too. This work is expected to be completed by August 2009.
      Choe said that with the effort to build this complex, Ewha expects to become one of the top hundred universities in the world. “It is undeniable that research environment of a school is a very important factor when evaluating or ranking the school.”

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