The State University of New York (SUNY) at Fredonia plans to recruit more students from Korea by setting up sisterhood ties with more high schools here this year.
For this purpose, Lisa R. Hunter, SUNY Fredonia's associate provost, and Jessica Gatto, assistant director of admissions at the school, embarked on their visit to Korea on Oct. 9.
"It is my first visit to Korea. We're here to discuss details with some of our sister high schools. We want to develop our sisterhood relationship with some five to 10 high schools this year," Hunter said.
They visited five high schools including Lila Art, Wabu, Yangchung and Baekam.
"It takes couple of visits for us to talk about programs and how we make genuine cooperation the best," she added.
Hunter stressed that she wants to make sure that the schools SUNY Fredonia is choosing match its strength.
"I have been trying to find good fits for us when looking for schools to make a relationship with. When it comes to Lira Art High School, it has strong music and taekwondo programs and that matches SUNY Fredonia's strength. In this way both schools can get benefit from the relationship," she said.
"The same applies to Baekam High School. They are strong in sciences and so are we," she added.
Asked why SUNY Fredonia is interested in teaming up with Korean high schools and in inviting Korean students, Gatto said the school has benefitted a lot from Korean students over the past four years.
"The reason why we have focused on Korea is because we have had a great deal of success with Korean students on campus, especially those coming from high schools. We know that they have strong academic backgrounds and curricula," she explained.
"About 200 Korean students have been one of the most active groups on our campus. Domestic students can also learn from them," she said.
"We are always looking to get qualified students from a variety of countries as well. Currently we have 120 international students representing about 12 different countries on our campus," she added.