[KS] IUC

[Gari Keith Ledyard]

It may be that there are different ways of constructing a program that
will have the advantages of an IUC program, as recent messages seem to
suggest.  But the discussion seems to be moving to concentrate on the
Seoul side of things.  But if people want a genuine IUC program on the
Japan and Taiwan models, which would be my preference, the organization
must be done in the U.S.  It is the Inter-University Consortium of E.A.
programs that organize and run these things.  It is those universities
that provide the money and other support.  You can't organize such a thing
in Seoul; it has to be done here, and there would likely be a lot of
problems that would have to be dealt with.  It would have to be understood
that only students from the cooperating universities and programs are
selected for the overseas training, and the standards are very high.
Ideally, given the global extension that has developed in East Asian
Studies since the IUCs were started in the 1960s, it would be highly
desirable to expand the sponsorship to Canadian and UK insitutions and
possibly beyond.  But each circle of expansion makes success that much
harder to clinch.  However and within whatever limits the organizing work
is done, in the end there must be a facility in Seoul, and for that
cooperation with a Korean institution is essential.  I am encouraged by
Aidan's observations on the sovereignty issue.

Gari Ledyard