On the 6th of March, Scottish Universities, which represents Scotland’s 19 higher educational institutions and the Korean Council for University education, which represents 201 of South Korea’s University institutions, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to foster stronger ties between the two countries at Edinburgh University.
This Memorandum of Understanding aims to promote development partnerships and collaborative research between individual universities in Scotland and Korea. In a statement released by Universities Scotland, it was also cited that the collaboration between the two also aims to explore “avenues of cooperation in student mobility, dual degrees and joint research”
Professor Jonathan Cooper is International Dean in East Asia for Glasgow University commented that the MoU would help strengthen the University of Glasgow’s” already significant links with South Korea” and “increased interactions” with Korea will allow activities such as studies in Synthetic Biology to grow.
The University of Glasgow has benefited in the past from connections with Korea. Professor Frank Pollick supports the Memorandum of Understanding as a way to “open up new opportunities” between Korea and Scotland and spoke of the “wonderful experience” he had while working on 3 year joint project between Psychology at Glasgow University and the departments of Computing Science and Psychology at Yonsei University in Seoul.
A spokesman for the University of Glasgow said: “We hope the MoU signed between Universities Scotland and the Korean Council for University Education will enhance our academic links with institutions in South Korea and create more student exchange opportunities.
“Glasgow has been a popular choice for students from South Korea since 1880 and we have an active Korean student society. We have close links with many of the top universities in the country, including Korea University, our Universitas 21 partner, with which we already have an established exchange programme.”
