Cultivating Talented Individuals

Affiliation: GSAPS
Year: PhD 2
Name: KANG, Kyuwon
Itinerary: 2/8/2010 - 2/14/2010 (Month/Date/Year)

Seoul, Korea

Overall Objective of research

• To understand the roles and status of Korean Universities in the context of Asian integration of higher education

Objective of visit to Korea

• To see the current status of international activities in Korean Universities
• To capture the purposes or expected outcomes of international/ cross-border activities of Korean Universities
• To confirm if there are any activities/ programs with the purpose of enforcing Asian integration
• To receive the comments and ideas from the directors of international offices of the universities about the idea of Asian integration of higher education

My research topic is about the role of Korean universities in the context of regional integration of higher education in Asia.

The survey is already conducted to 300 universities in ASEAN plus China, Korea, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand to capture the current status and purposes of international/ cross-border activities of the universities, and their regional partners. This survey allows us to have a big picture of trend and flow of international students and activities in Asian universities. As I would like to focus in the case of Korea for my dissertation, through the interviews I tried to find the suitable and feasible framework of questionnaire for Korea Universities.

1. Interviews with the directors of International Offices of the 5 "leading" Korea universities allowed me to have a clear understanding of the current status of international activities in their universities.
2. Through the interviews I could build more analytical framework for my future questionnaire in Korea.
3. Since regional integration of higher education in Asia is a very new topic, there are not many programs/ activities that aim to achieve it. The directors are highly interested and feel the needs of Asian integration, but in general they believe that it will be a difficult process. Also they believe that it will be easier to achieve it by including only Korea, China and Japan, and excluding ASEAN and other countries in Asia.
4. Through the discussion with the directors, I have realized how important it is to increase the number of target universities for my future survey in Korea.
5. I also visited researchers from Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education & Training (KRIVET) and Korea Education Development Institute (KEDI) to consult about my dissertation topic. They introduced me important previous studies, and literatures to read before conducting survey in Korea. Also the researcher from KEDI said the possibility of my internship at KEDI for the project called "internationalization of Korean Universities" this year. If I can participate in this research, I can also contribute to build the questionnaire and include questions for my PhD dissertation.
6. The researcher from KRIVET told me that KRIVET already started building a quality framework between Korea, China, and Japan. The project is in a preliminary stage, but I find it very interesting.
7. Through the discussions with the directors and researchers, I found other Professors and organizations that were doing the similar projects with me. I would like to contact with them in any time soon to further discuss about it.
8. As I am in the preliminary stage of researching about Korean Universities, I find my trip to Korea has provided me useful background information to structure analytical research framework.

Academic Adviser: KURODA, Kazuo

Investigation Area: Seoul, Korea / KANG, Kyuwon [759KB]