Seoul Nat`l Univ. to Open Int`l Campus in Siheung

Seoul National University and the southern Seoul suburb of Siheung will set up an international campus in the city’s Gunja district.

The university said the campus will be environmentally friendly, advanced, information-oriented and medical.

Called “International Campus – Global Cluster for Academic-Industrial Cooperation and Medical Service,” the project is part of the university’s goal of growing more globalized. Siheung has advanced industries but lacks cultural, medical and educational infrastructure.

Siheung Mayor Kim Yun-sik, who was elected in April, pledged to attract the campus in his election campaign. For his part, Seoul National President Lee Jang-mu mentioned the project in August in talks with Harvard University President Drew Gilpin Faust.

In 1997, Hanwha Corp. reclaimed land in Siheung’s Gunja district. The city has invested 1.6 trillion won (1.4 billion U.S. dollars) to develop the campus, which is next to Sihwa Industrial Complex and connected to New Songdo City via a bridge.

The campus will have 10 buildings for use as dormitories and lecture rooms for 3,000 students. Fifteen hundred Seoul National University students will attend the campus, 1,000 of whom will be those from other universities that have cross registration agreements with Seoul National University and 500 from abroad.

The buildings will be built as residential facilities to house classrooms, cafeterias and accommodations under the same roof. By doing so, students will be encouraged to speak in foreign languages.

Seoul National University will also invite participation and borrow the curriculum of cultural studies of leading foreign schools. Agreements with other schools will allow the campus to have Harvard professors run the Harvard University Center and Beijing University professors the Beijing University Center.

At centers run by renowned foreign universities, students can grow more international by following the educational policies of foreign universities and speaking foreign languages.

The university is also considering setting up an international department at the university level or a research center for international studies.

constant25@donga.com