<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=3 FAMILY="SERIF" FACE="Times New Roman" LANG="0">Concerning sovereignty in these matters, as raised by Gari Ledyard: <BR>
<BR>
The opportunity to set up an IUC or similar in South <BR>
Korea should be about to improve, at least in principle.<BR>
<BR>
Under the WTO's Doha round, the ROK - like other countries -<BR>
is in process of offering selective opening of its service sectors<BR>
to foreign investment. This includes education.<BR>
<BR>
As readers on the spot will know far better than I, this is all<BR>
the subject of much debate - and predictable resistance from<BR>
the education ministry and teachers' unions. There has been<BR>
quite a lot of press discussion, including in last week's<BR>
Far Eastern Economic Review:<BR>
<BR>
http://www.feer.com/articles/2003/0304_17/p018region.html<BR>
<BR>
For once, however, it seems not to be shaping up as a <BR>
simple fortress Korea "them and us". With few if any of the<BR>
stakeholders - students, parents, teachers, educators - happy<BR>
with the present state of education in Korea, there seems to be<BR>
an emerging constituency for letting in foreign schools: as a<BR>
breath of fresh air, or chill wind of competition.<BR>
<BR>
All this applies to education across the board. When the dust<BR>
settles, it seems that - at least at university level - foreign providers<BR>
will be free, or freer, to set up shop.<BR>
<BR>
Whatever one feels about globalization in general, my hunch is<BR>
that this can only be good for education in South Korea. At all<BR>
events, it should make it easier to push for an IUC.<BR>
<BR>
Happy Easter!<BR>
Aidan FC<BR>
<BR>
AIDAN FOSTER-CARTER<BR>
Honorary Senior Research Fellow in Sociology & Modern Korea, Leeds University<BR>
17 Birklands Road, Shipley, West Yorkshire, BD18 3BY, UK<BR>
tel: +44(0) 1274 588586 mobile: +44(0) 7970 741307 <BR>
fax: +44(0) 1274 773663 Email: afostercarter@aol.com <BR>
<BR>
__________<BR>
<BR>
In a message dated 4/17/03 06:46:16 GMT Daylight Time, gkl1@columbia.edu writes:<BR>
<BR>
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<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Subj:<B>[KS] IUC programs </B><BR>
Date:4/17/03 06:46:16 GMT Daylight Time<BR>
From:<A HREF="mailto:gkl1@columbia.edu">gkl1@columbia.edu</A><BR>
Reply-to:<A HREF="mailto:Koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws">Koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws</A><BR>
To:<A HREF="mailto:Koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws">Koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws</A><BR>
<I>Sent from the Internet </I><BR>
<BR>
<BR>
Back in the 80s and early 90s I tried to talk up in Korea the<BR>
Inter-University Committee (IUC) approach to graduate level special<BR>
language programs in Korea, but found no one who seriously thought it<BR>
could happen. The fact is, there is a sovereignty problem there. The<BR>
Taibei and Tokyo/Kyoto centers are organized, funded, and run by<BR>
committees of senior professors in the Chinese and Japanese programs in<BR>
the U.S., with the approval and cooperation of their respective<BR>
universities. They decide what to teach and how, who to hire, who to<BR>
fire, textbooks and syllabus issues, salaries, and everything else. For<BR>
some reason, in Japan and Taiwan you can do this without people feeling<BR>
that their national honor is threatened. When I explained the IUC concept<BR>
to Korean officials and educators, I was universally told that any<BR>
teaching program in Korea must be under the oversight of the Ministry of<BR>
Education. I'm not sure how that position is formulated legally, but<BR>
believe me, it is formulated. And obviously, no American IUC committee<BR>
will accept any "outside" (in this case, inside!) authority over its<BR>
academic program. I was told, by people who were sympathetic to the IUC<BR>
approach and aware of its success in China and Taiwan, that the only way<BR>
to establish a program with the IUC advantages is to work in cooperation<BR>
with an established Korean educational institution under MOE oversight.<BR>
But it doesn't seem that American program directors are ready for that.<BR>
But surely there must be some way to get this thing done. Why should<BR>
American graduate students in Chinese and Japanese studies be able to<BR>
polish their language skills culturally rich, real Chinese and Japanese<BR>
environments, but students in Korean studies not be able to do this?<BR>
<BR>
Gari Ledyard<BR>
<BR>
</BLOCKQUOTE><BR>
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