Dongseo University has established an American branch campus at Hope International University (HIU). This is part of initiatives to establish overseas campuses in important regions of the world such as America and China, and thereby establish the foundations of a global university.
On January 24th, Former President of DSU Park Dong Soon and President of HIU John Derry signed an academic exchange agreement establishing the American branch campus of DSU at the HIU campus. Founder of DSU Chang Sung Man, then Vice President, and current President of DSU Chang Jekuk, as well as Dean of the International Exchange & Cooperation Office Chung Chan participated in the signing ceremony.
In a ceremony to mark the occasion, Former President Park Dong Soon said that DSU had started a student exchange program with HIU in 1999 and that trust had now been established to the point where establishing a branch campus would be very beneficial. She also said that DSU has aimed to be a global university by managing international student programs and that opening the first branch campus in America was a basic step in achieving that aim, about which she is very pleased.
President of HIU John Derry said that California has one of the largest Korean communities in America and that he was delighted about the partnership which would bring communities closer together. He said that this would extend the number of students and professors exchanging between both universities, and he promised to offer his full cooperation for increasing the friendship between the two universities.
The establishment of an American branch campus of DSU will mean that one hundred DSU students will learn English on-site in the branch campus intensively over two semesters. They will also experience American culture and raise their awareness of global competitiveness. DSU students will participate in this program from the fall semester of 2011 and earn a total of thirty-six credits in English and in their major classes during the two semesters. DSU will support the students for flight, tuition, and boarding expenses. Thus, DSU students will be able to study abroad for one year without a heavy economic burden.
President Chang Jekuk said that the American branch campus of DSU would become a very important base for the global education of DSU students and that it would also play a role in offering education necessary for ethnic Korean residents in Fullerton and Orange County. For this, there are plans to offer on-line and off-line English and Korean classes. An article about the DSU American branch campus made headlines in the American Joongang Newspaper and in the American Hankukilbo.