Following their successful consecutive 3 years’ visit programs to prestigious Incheon Global Campus (IGC) located in Songdo, Incheon Korea which have been marked with its tremendous publicity effect at both home & abroad to attract talented students all over the world, the Seoul Diplomatic Corps. visited IGC once again by the invitation of the campus on last April 24(Wendesday) to watch its top-notch curriculum contents and its global education environment at firsthand.

Compared with its past previous visit programs and pattern, this year’s visit was considerably different in that visiting Diplomatic Corps. listened each campus’ presentaions separately by visiting each campuses one by one in the morning and in the afternoon respectively. Such new approach allowed visiting Diplomatic Corps. to understand more in-depth profiles of each campuses, according to comments from participants.

Belarus Amb. Andrei Popkov assumed the dean role of the visiting Diplomatic Corps. and other 7 envoys attending the trip were Ghana Amb. Difie Agyarko KUSI, Ukraine Amb. Olexander Horin, Honduras Amb. Virgilio Paredes Trapero, Peru Amb. Daul Jesus Enrique Matute-Mejia, Iraq Amb. Hayder Shiya Al-Barrak, Afghanistan Amb. Abdul Hakim Atarus, and last but not least Sierra Leone Amb. Kathos Jibao MATTAI in addition to over 40 senior diplomats from Seoul including some Charge d’Affaires a.is.

At its IGC publicity pavilion as its first visit program which welcomed envoys & senior diplomats, president Kim Ki-hyung from Incheon Global Campus Foundation said: “2019 welcomes more incoming students than ever for IGC”.

According to the Foundation which operates 4 campuses, the semester welcomed more students than ever, meeting the full quota in most departments and enjoying remarkable quantitative growth. The quota had not been reached, due to the rigorous screening process of the home campuses and despite the skyrocketing rates of competition. This year’s growth is therefore all the more notable, owing to the qualitative growth in the pool of applicants, said IGC.

Currently this semester, there are nearly 2,700 students studying at IGC, according to the Foundation.

First visit campus for visiting Diplomatic Corps. in the morning was the State University of New York, Korea. Through his presentation, president Kim Choon-Ho introduced: “As the first American university to offer both undergraduate and graduate courses in Korea, SUNY Korea started with Stony Brook University before adding the prestigious fashion programs from Fashion Institute of Technology(FIT) in 2017”

Both universities offer the same curriculum and degrees as one would receive on the New York home campus, Kim underscored, adding Upon graduation, students earn their degrees either from Stony Brook or FIT.

For the spring semester of 2019, SUNY Korea welcomed the highest number of students ever, around 140 new students who will be committed to furthering their discipline in the 5 departments of SUNY Korea (namely, Technological Systems Management, Computer Science, Applied Mathematics & Statistics, Mechanical Engineering and Business Management), according to SUNY.

As the second visit campus in the morning, George Mason University Korea whose briefing was most impressive for the visiting Diplomatic Corps. stressed the Mason Idea-innovative, diverse, entrepreneurial, and accessible- in addition to building international networks and benefitting from practical internship experiences.

Associate Dean John T. Crist for Academic Affairs added that George Mason’s classes are taught with its tight management while the classes are proceeded with elitism the principle of the able minority. Prof. Robert Matz, George Mason University Korea’s new campus Dean who was appointed on Jan. this year, replied with regard to a question, “How is George Mason different from other universities?”: “There are two things. First, we communicate on a more equal footing instead of placing ourselves in a strict hierarchical system; I believe that this openness has helped boost the university’s growth, which can be seen in how George Mason encourages research by students and pursues diversity. In addition, George Mason’s geographical location has played a vital role and Mason’s strong leadership is yet another factor”.

During its Q&A session, Iraq Amb. Hayder Shiya Al-Barrak recommened to utilize foreign Mission in Seoul when IGC wants to recruit more many talented students diversely from abroad, hoping for IGC to give more many scholarships for developing countries’ students as well.

In conjunction with such Iraq envoy’s comments, president Kim Ki-hyung from the IGC Foundation said during the luncheon welcome remarks that IGC sincerely hopes for Your Excellencies’ country more many students to be able to study at IGC with this 4th Diplomatic Corps’ IGC campus famtour trip as a momentum.

As usual, there were 3 envoys’ lectures regarding economic cooperations and diplomatic relations between respective envoy countries & Korea respectively at the University of Utah Asia Campus in the afternoon and talk-shows.

First, Belarus Amb. Andrei Popkov briefed about its economy as follows, emphasizing its geographic location’s edge as a crossroad between Asia & Europe: “The economic potential of Belarus is based on a number of industries which account for almost 40% of the basic production assets. Over 2,300 different plants which produce about 30% of the gross domestic product function in the country.

Many Belarusian enterprises are currently at the stage of modernization aimed at reducing the energy consumption and installation of modern equipment. Re-equipment of enterprises is laid in the development program of the industrial complex of the republic for the period until 2020. It is planned that the updated lines will focus on knowledge-intensive industries of the economy.”

Secondly, Honduras Amb. Virgilio Paredes Trapero who joined to last year’s IGC trip as well, presented for about 80 audiences including Utah students: “Honduras has a priviledged location in the heart of the American Continent, giving it many business advantages and investment edges for foreign investors including Korea”.

Touching upon the fact that South Korea signed free trade deals with 5 Central America countries including Honduras at the beginning of last year, Trapero indicated that it aims boosting market access for the Korean auto sector and electronics makers through five separate bilateral pacts which will eliminate duties on about 95 percent of traded goods and services.

Lastly, Peru envoy Daul Jesus Enrique Matute-mejia briefed with a title ‘Diplomatic relations between Peru & Korea’. Also touching upon maintaining mutual cooperations & partnerships between the two countries such as APEC, OECD, FEALAC to name just a few, he encouraged strongly Korean companies’ investment into Peru by saying that Peru is one of the most solid and fastest-growing economies in Latin America.

The reasons for this are the interplay of structural reforms undertaken in the past, stable economic policies that consider the prevalence of economic freedom and due protection for investments, a prudent macroeconomic management and a favorable external environment, that allow for continues high growth and low inflation, Matute-mejia said.

Last but not least, Ghent University Global Campus whose 50% of its curriculum consist of Lab & Research was last stopover for the visiting Diplomatic Corps. to hear its presentations. Its vice president Mr. Dirluk DE SILVA who greeted guests, said by his briefing that to ensure first-education and administrative services for all students, GUGC is committed to adopting diverse strategies to ensure excellence in faculty, administrative systems, and process innovations.

For reference, Ghent University Global Campus welcomed a total of 181 students for spring 2019, according to Ghent University. With 426 students(including the 181 new students) having enrolled for the new spring semester, this remarkable feat in recruiting such a high number of students is thanks to GUGC’s extraordinary educational curriculum and endeavours to welcome talented students, SILVA added.

Wrapping up this year’s IGC campus fam-tour trip once again very successfully, visiting Diplomatic Corps. dropped by Incheon Free Economic Authority as their last visit destination to see its investment environment at firsthand.