Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Jeweltone]

Wow...Here's an interesting story, ripped from the headlines of academia:

http://chronicle.com/article/South-Koreas-Ambitious-Global/66149/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

Does anything sound a little "risky" to anyone else?

"Lee acknowledges that the contracts make few formal demands on the U.S. colleges apart from that they turn up to what is essentially an empty shell and teach degree programs in engineering, languages, and business. 'We respect their reputation and don't ask for legal guarantees,' he says."

[elltotheoh]

It sounds a little similar to the global campus NYU is building in Abu Dhabi. I think the "global university" is a really interesting concept, but I agree, there need to be solid legal arrangements to make sure all parties are on the up and up.

[PRagic]

You can look at this a couple of different ways. On the one hand, from a regional development/cluster point of view, Korea is smart to bring in foreign universities and push tech, law, and business classes. There are potential spillover effects that could benefit the Incheon/SongDo area. It would remain to be seen just how much of a void that can fill in the short-term, though, as there are no substantial tech anchor firms there as of yet.

But that is only half the equation. The big question is why would students from countries with strong university programs in these fields, most of which are situated in, or possibly the anchor of, viable industrial clusters, want to travel to Korea as part of their education. If the plan can be sold to foreign students, and by foreign, I mean students with absolutely no ethnic ties to or experience with Korea, then it is a win-win situation for the educational institutions on both sides of the Pacific.

Now throw in a different option. There is a lot of research that suggests that ethnically based ties can build bridges between countries, particularly in the high tech. Would the students coming over be Korean American (or Korean Australian, Korean Canadian...)? If so, what would be their impetus to do business in Korea? The project is ambitious to be sure, but from a spatial and developmental point of view, the 'government support' mentioned is not far reaching enough, and some of the factors have not been throught through from the consumers' point of view.

Just off the top of my head. Good article, but it's only the tip of the iceberg.