Sookmyung Makes Inroads in China’s Korean Wave of Education
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- Writer 총관리자
- 보도일자 2012-03-19
On the 7th of last month, Yunnan Normal University and Sookmyung made an agreement to expand their scope of exchange from academic interchange to exchange among professors and the opening of a joint degree course. This agreement was made while Young-sil Han, the president of Sookmyung, visited China and it comes as good news for students who wish to study in China.
The primary purpose of the agreement for interchange is to help found the counterpart departments in both universities - the Korean department in Yunnan Normal University and the Division of Chinese Language and Literature in Sookmyung.
Thanks to this establishment, the Division of Korean Language will be set up in Yunnan Normal University, creating job openings for those who can teach Korean in China. Sookmyung will also play a key role in furthering not only Sookmyung’s position but the status of the Korean language in East Asia via the Korean Wave.
Both universities promise to offer full annual scholarships for 2-3 students at each university so as to nurture talent in Korean and Chinese. In addition to this, exchange among professors and joint research in science is anticipated. This agreement will be valid for 5 years, after which it will be renewed automatically for another period of 5 years if neither partner objects.
Yunnan Normal University will establish its Confucius Institute on the Sookmyung campus; in turn Sookmyung will set up a Soonhun Institute in Yunnan. The Confucius Institute will look after the Chinese language educational program and teacher course, hold Chinese Teaching Certificate examinations, and run the programs for cultural exchange and internship. In turn, the Soonhun Institute will promote programs for long and short-term student exchange and faculty envoy exchange, and the joint degree as a Korean language education center. Moreover, it will also hold a SMU-TESOL undergraduate program and courses for short term certificates.
Sookmyung president Young-sil Han delivered the congratulatory address on behalf of 80 representatives from 34 countries and familiarized her audience with Sookmyung at the World Women’s University Presidents Forum held in Xiamen Fujian on November 3rd. Shortly after, on November 6th president Han accepted an invitation from Yunnan Province to meet and converse with Jiheng Li, Acting Governor of Yunnan Province, and had a meeting with the representatives of Yunnan Province.
This agreement between Sookmyung and Yunnan Normal University, a leading prestigious university in China, is one of the successes of Han’s visit to China and should become a cornerstone for expanding interchange with this rapidly-growing country.