Chancellor Blumenthal signed an academic cooperation agreement with representatives of a Korean Buddhist University.
The pact between UC Santa Cruz and Dongguk University of Seoul calls for the reciprocal exchange of faculty, staff, and students; joint research projects; and the exchange of academic publications and information. It is also hoped that Dongguk will send more of its students to study UC Santa Cruz Extension's International Education program.
Blumenthal and Il Chung Kim, Dongguk's dean of international programs and education, took part in a signing ceremony and luncheon February 14. The president of Dongguk, Young Kyo Oh, was expected to participate but could not because of a last-minute meeting of Korean university presidents called to discuss education reform.
Dongguk University requested the partnership as part of its "Sister Universities" project with the goal of increasing its reputation, spreading Buddhist research and education, and exchanging rare books on Buddhism and East Asian Studies. Blumenthal said he was pleased to help Dongguk develop international connections adding that international partnerships is also a priority for UCSC.
Dongguk has cooperative agreements with UCLA, Michigan State, Northern State, State University of New York (Stony Brook) and several other universities in the United States and is also affiliated universities in many countries, including 14 in Japan; 19 in China; 2 in Russia; and one in India, Mongolia, Sri Lanka and Kyrgyzstan.
The agreement with UCSC follows a program begun last year in which Dongguk sent 11 students to study English in UNEX's 2007 Summer Intensive Program.
