Indiana University boosts ties with Korean schools

Members of the Jacobs School of Music Chamber Orchestra acknowledge the audience's applause at the end of their concert at the Seoul Arts Center in southern Seoul, Saturday. / Courtesy of Indiana University

Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie

By Chung Hyun-chae

Indiana University (IU) President Michael A. McRobbie says he wants to develop closer relations with Korean universities and expand partnerships with them.

"We already have a number of relationships with top universities in Korea and want to develop them further," he said during an interview with The Korea Times at the Shilla Hotel in Seoul, Friday.

With a one-week itinerary, he came to Seoul on March 18 to visit Korean institutions and meet education officials, accompanied by students of the Jacob School of Music.

McRobbie noted that his university has focused on three things to boost ties with Korean schools.

"The first thing is to recruit more Korean students so that they come to Indiana University at the undergraduate and graduate level," McRobbie said. "We have nearly 1,000 Korean students in Bloomington, the main campus, making them the third largest group after China and India. Korean students are 12 percent of the foreign student body."

On Monday McRobbie attended IU's international alumni conference at the Shilla Hotel in which more than 200 Koreans participated.

"Korean students are excellent. We find Korean students to be very hard working, dedicated and enthusiastic. They make terrific alumni when they come back to Korea. They are hugely supportive of IU," he said.

The second focus is to provide ways to have more domestic students study abroad in Korea, he added.

"Relationships we formed with Korean institutions would help us to enable more of our students to actually study abroad. Nearly a third of our student population has studied abroad by the time they graduate," he said. "This ranks us No. 10 in the U.S. out of 1,200 universities in terms of students who go abroad."

IU also ranked 13th in the number of international students it has on its campus.

"The third is to find mechanisms and support collaboration in research between faculties and research projects," McRobbie said.

IU's four primary university partners in Korea are Seoul National University (SNU), Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Yonsei University and Ewha Womans University.

Its School of Informatics and Computing has signed agreements with SNU, SKKU and Yonsei while the Maurere School of Law has with SKKU and Ewha. Its School of Public and Environmental Affairs also has agreements with SNU and Yonsei.

Indiana's Kelly School of Business runs dual degree programs jointly with SKKU.

"We're really focusing on those four institutions. Because to go beyond that number is a risk in that we could lose resources and focus. We prefer to have a smaller number and to make the relationship deeper," McRobbie said.

IU's Jacob School of Music signed a partnership accord with SNU's school of music last Wednesday.

"We are certainly interested in expanding beyond those areas," McRobbie added.

Indiana University is interested in stepping up collaboration with Korean institutions in the field of technology as it is a strong suit of the school. It is the first American university to have a school of informatics.

McRobbie was IU's vice president for information technology in 1997, and also played a major role in the creation of the School of Informatics. As president, he also created the school's new IT strategy plan.

"I heard that SKKU is in the process of establishing a new school of informatics. I'm hoping that we will be able to find ways to work with them more closely," he said. "We are obviously very interested in the actual use of applications of information and technology. We are certainly regarded as one of the best universities in the U.S. in terms of the use of applications of information and technology."

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