Ashland University Signs Partnership Agreement with Hannam University

 Officials from Ashland University met with representatives from Hannam University, a private Christian university in Daejeon, South Korea, at the end of May to discuss a new partnership agreement between the two universities and sign a memorandum of understanding.

The photo shows Ashland University Provost Dr. Frank Pettigrew (right) and Hannam University President Hyungtae Kim signing a memorandum of understanding between the two schools, while Dr. Nate Myers, executive director of International Programs at Ashland University, looks on.

“It’s part of the university’s plan to increase its internationalization of the university. We have connection with Hannam University, and they have existing partnerships within the country already, and we have been working through our international program,” Ashland University Provost Dr. Frank Pettigrew explained. “Hannam University representatives are here visiting other universities as well, but are very interested in Ashland, particularly for our education and business programs.”

Many of the representatives of Hannam as well as Ashland, believe that this new partnership will be a great way for the students of both universities to explore other cultures as well as provide opportunities for students to study abroad in each other’s country.

Hannam University President Hyungtae Kim and Hannam’s Director of the Center for International Relations Wonbae Kim believe there are many benefits to the partnership.

“I think we are going to have mutual benefits through the exchange of students and faculty members for short term and semester based programs in business, education and many other areas,” said Wonbae Kim. “So this is going to nurture the relationship for the future between our two universities.”
|
Dr. Pettigrew believes that Ashland University benefits from this partnership by providing its students with an opportunity to travel and study in a safe environment.

“They have a great program, called the Buddy program, where every student that goes over is given one of their Korean students as a buddy, and they are with them, go to class with them, study with them, take the same classes, and it provides that opportunity for a safe travel,” Pettigrew said.

“They also provide a Korean language intensive course at no cost for students who want to study another language,” he said. “It also helps our students meet the GPS (Global Perspectives Studies) requirement that’s coming into play, and it provides our faculty with an exchange of being able to go over and participate in teaching in another country and having their faculty come here to give us a more global perspective.”

The representatives of Ashland and Hannam met in the Dauch College of Business and Economics Ridenour Room earlier in the morning to discuss the agreement and then signed the memorandum of understanding in the President’s Office.

Ashland University, ranked in the top 200 colleges and universities in U.S. News and World Report’s National Universities category for 2012, is a mid-sized, private university conveniently located a short distance from Akron, Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio. Ashland University (www.ashland.edu) values the individual student and offers a unique educational experience that combines the challenge of strong, applied academic programs with a faculty and staff who build nurturing relationships with their students.