On 9 December 2022, Boglárka Koller, vice-rector for international affairs, welcomed His Excellency Mr Chul-min Park, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Korea.
His Excellency has been in office since December 2020, during which time he and vice-rector Koller have met on several occasions and maintained cordial relations. His Excellency's mandate in Hungary is coming to an end, and he will face new challenges in his home country. Before his return, he paid a visit to the Vice-Rector to say farewell.
During the visit, His Excellency took the opportunity to introduce Ms Yoon Hee Kang, the vice president for international affairs and dean for the Institute of International Education of Kookmin University. Ms Yoon Hee Kang came to Hungary to build international relations between Kookmin University and Hungarian universities, among others, with the University of Public Service.
Vice-rector Koller and Dr Yoon Hee Kang introduced their institutions to each other, looking for common points of cooperation. The fields of collaboration may be found in our BSc degree programs of Civil and Environmental Engineering and also MA degree in International Relations, which are the English language full-time degree programmes of UPS.
Kookmin University was founded in 1946 as the first private institution in Korea. KMU has long evolved from a university for the nation to a university for the world. It has since expanded into 14 colleges and 15 graduate schools. KMU's main faculties are Design, Engineering, Business Administration and Natural Sciences, Science and Technology, etc. Through the student exchange agreements, KMU cooperates with 433 universities in 59 nations worldwide.
Thanks to Ms Yoon Hee Kang's visit, a fruitful partnership can develop. She handed vice-rector Koller a draft of a general memorandum of understanding, aiming for the exchange of academic materials and publications, the exchange of faculty members and both undergraduate and graduate students, as well as conducting joint research activities and organising symposiums. The agreement may be signed in March 2022, when another Korean delegation is expected to visit UPS. Until that time, the negotiations will be continuous.