UM and South Korean University Create Educational Partnership

OXFORD, Miss. – The University of Mississippi expanded its global
presence Monday (Nov. 9) with the signing of a formal partnership with
Hanbat National University in South Korea.

Larry Ridgeway (left), vice chancellor for student affairs at the Ole Miss, and Hanbat National University President Dong-Ho Sul (right) celebrate after the signing of a collaboration agreement between their universities. UM photo by Robert Jordan.

Dong-Ho Sul, president of Hanbat, and several of the university’s deans and officials were on hand for the ceremony.
“I believe this agreement will be profitable and beneficial for both universities,” Sul said.

The program will enable Hanbat students to attend the South Korean
university for two years and UM for two years while earning a dual
degree. The South Korean university specializes in the fields of
engineering and business and has been sending students from those
fields to Ole Miss since 2002 to participate in the intensive English
program, Sul said.

“Our expectation is that this joint partnership we are entering into
today will provide great dividends not only to the Hanbat students but
also to the University of Mississippi,” said Larry Ridgeway, UM vice
chancellor of student affairs.

The university’s engineering and business programs will benefit from
the inclusion of South Korean students in those fields, and the
university as a whole will continue to build international partnerships
in a world that is growing more and more global, he said.

During a luncheon honoring the new collaboration, Lydia Jones, wife of
UM Chancellor Dan Jones, toasted the new agreement in both Korean and
English. The Joneses spent time living in South Korea near the
hometowns of some of the visiting South Korean educators.
“In the years to come, may our universities collaborate closely and in true partnership,” she said.

Dong-Ho Sul, president of Hanbat National University, presents Lydia Jones, wife of UM Chancellor Dan Jones, with a gift following the signing of a collaboration agreement between the two universities. UM photo by Robert Jordan

Sul and the other South Korean educators spent time visiting the UM
schools of Engineering and Business Administration as well as the UM
offices of International Programs and Student Affairs during their
daylong trip to campus.

Sul said his university is very pleased to expand the relationship with
UM particularly because it fits with his university’s two goals of
collaborating with industry and embracing globalization.

Hanbat National University is in Daejeon, South Korea. Established in
1927, the university is home to nearly 10,000 students and offers
degrees in engineering, humanities, and economics and commerce, as well
as industry, information, and communications and entrepreneurial
management.

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