From May 3 to 12, Ewha President Lee Bae-yong, and the dean and associate dean of the Office of Global Affairs (OGA) made a round of visits to Washington DC andBoston to make arrangements to open two new overseas satellite campuses, as a part of Ewha’s Global 2010 project. Included in the list of Ewha’s contracting partners wereGeorgeWashingtonUniversity ,GeorgeMasonUniversity , theUniversity ofMaryland ,BostonUniversity ,MountHolyokeCollege , andWesleyanUniversity .

 

 

             Kym Hyo-gun, the dean of the OGA said, “The result of the visit was very fruitful. Adding those six prestigious universities as Ewha’s partners will help the school reach its goal to provide as many experiences as possible for students to explore abroad as they become global leaders.”          The president and deans also met withHarvardUniversity representatives to add to existing exchange programs. Ewha andHarvardUniversity have had active interchanges through the Ewha-Harvard Summer School Program for three years already, and theHarvardCollege in Asia Program was recently established in the year 2007. On this visit, Ewha and Harvard reached an upper level agreement to conduct research together on Hallyu (the Korean wave) with the Korea Institute of Harvard University taking the leading role.

 

 

             WithGeorgeWashingtonUniversity , theUniversity ofMaryland , andBostonUniversity , Ewha has agreed on exchanging 10 to 15 students in fields those universities specialize in. In addition to exchanging students, a program has been developed between Ewha andGeorgeMasonUniversity that allows Ewha students to study art administration and be granted internship opportunities there.

 

 

             Kym said, “GeorgeWashingtonUniversity showed a great interest in our Paju Education & Research Complex. Thus, the two universities decided to plan active academic and faculty exchanges between the George Washington Institute of Public Policy and the soon to be built Peace Research Institute in the Paju complex.”

 

 

             Moreover,MountHolyokeCollege and Ewha brought out a plan to select two Ewha students to participate in the Women’s Leadership Development Conference with full scholarships offered byMountHolyoke , including air fare and lodging expenses. Further concluded was an agreement on Ewha’s participation in the Women’s Education Worldwide forum planned to be held in Italy this coming June.

 

 

             President Lee was also invited as the only Korean university president at the inauguration ceremony of President Kim Bottomly ofWesleyanUniversity . Lee gave a special lecture titled, “The History of Korean Women, Past and Present ” at Wesleyan. Lee said, “The presidents of Harvard and Wesleyan and I got more closely acquainted since we share a similar vision for women’s education. We especially believe in the potential and the necessity of women’s universities, which have contributed greatly to making the 21st century an era of woman leaders.”

 

 

             As a first step, Ewha andWesleyanUniversity consented to jointly host a free conference workshop at the World Women’s Forum, scheduled to be held for the second time in October 2008. Together with theUniversity ofCambridge in , Ewha and Wesleyan will also be forming triangular satellite campuses in Europe, the andAsia to cooperate in developing women’s leadership programs.

 

 

             Lee expressed her enthusiasm at the chance to enlarge opportunities for the Ewha students to study abroad. “I define globalization as interchanges between the present and the past. Water trapped in the puddles stagnates as time goes by. The same applies to a culture that that does not communicate with other cultures. I believe that universities have an obligation to open up multi-cultural opportunities for students who will be shouldering the responsibility of building a bright future for our society,” said Lee.

 

 

             Lee added, “Prestigious universities in foreign countries are developing a very positive belief in Ewha’s future, based on its 122 years of history and the fact that its graduates take active roles in society. They also sympathize with Ewha’s Global 2010 project. We plan to take advantage of that belief in the near future by maximizing study abroad programs for our students.”

caption: President Lee Bae-yong poses with the president of George Washington University, Steven Knapp, after arranging actice academic exchanges.

 

 

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