Opening the flow of exchanges with top five universities including alma master of Uzbekistan president

Promise to establish a college to share Saemaul Studies and Saemaul Undong with Samarkand National University 

Discussions on execution of double degree system and exchange with overseas campuses

[June 19, 2023] 

<President CHOI Oe-chool and his party have discussions on exchanges with Samarkand National University>

YU’s academic and educational system having global competitiveness advances to Central Asia.

 This is quite different from domestic universities focusing on exchanges with advanced countries and major countries such as USA, Europe, Japan, and China, or focusing on attracting international students from Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam. Local bases for each continent are expanded with sharing of Korea’s development experiences, i.e. academic exports and opening of overseas campuses by YU representing Saemaul Studies. Especially, when considering geopolitical characteristics of Central Asia that connects Europe and the Asian continent, it is thought that YU has established a bridgehead for sharing Korea's development experience and spreading global education. It is connected to the vision of a creative innovational university to contribute in prosperity of human society sought for by YU.

<President CHOI Oe-chool has an interview with Samarkand National University>

From June 4th to 11th, President CHOI Oe-chool of YU, Vice President HAN Dong-geun of Industry-University Research Division, and officials from the Office of International Affairs visited Uzbekistan for 8 days and 6 nights. In as short as one week of time, President CHOI and his party concluded agreements on exchanges with main five universities of Central Asia including Uzbekistan and finished their busy schedule including discussions on exchanges.

<President CHOI Oe-chool explains an exchange plan for both universities in Tashkent State University of Economics>

 The five universities that opened the channels of exchanges through this visit consist of Tashkent State University of Economics that is the alma master of former president Islam Karimov,
 Tashkent University of Information Technologies that is the best engineering school in Central Asia,
 AKFA University that was established by AKFA Group that is called Samsung Group of Uzbekistan,
 Samarkand State University that is located at the center of SilkRoad,
 and Bukhara State University that is at a 2,500-year high place that was designated as world cultural heritage by UNESCO and took first place in Uzbekistan based on evaluation of graduates. 

<Business agreement between YU and Bukhara State University>

<Business agreement between YU and AKFA University>

 It is expected through these agreements that excellent talents of Uzbekistan will be able to study in the education system of YU through double degree systems of faculty (2+2, 3+1) and graduate school (1+1). It is planned to expand academic exchanges starting at main competitive academic areas of YU such as Saemaul Studies, Computer Science, Information and Communication Engineering, Software Engineering, AI, Korean Language, and Global Business, etc.

<Business agreement between YU and Tashkent State University of Economics>

 Especially, exchanges with Samarkand National University are expected to flow rapidly. Samarkand National University is a prestigious national university that ranked fourth in Uzbekistan in the Great Britain QS University Evaluation last year. The Uzbekistan visit by the President of YU and his group was motivated by an aggressive love call by President Khalmuradov Rustam Ibragimovich of Samarkand National University. President Khalmuradov served as First Vice Minister of Education and Governor of Samarkand and is known to have considerable influence in Uzbekistan as he is currently serving as a senator and presidential agent.

<YU and Samarkand National University signed an exchange agreement.>

 President Khalmuradov met President CHOI and said repeatedly , “I finally found the person I was looking for,” and expressed his expectations saying, “Beyond Uzbekistan, YU’s Saemaul Studies is very necessary to overcome poverty and develop human resources in Central Asia including Afghanistan and Pakistan. We will also establish a college and department to teach Saemaul Studies for sustainable education and, therefore, we hope that YU will actively cooperate.” In addition, President Khalmuradov promised saying, “Sooner or later, I will directly report to the President about the cooperation plan with YU and establish a specific action plan by forming an on-campus committee.” Also, Samarkand National University actively requested exchanges and cooperation with YU by guiding President CHOI and his party to “Mahala,” a traditional village community in Central Asia, to explore the possibility of implementing the Saemaul Undong pilot project.

President CHOI and his party finished their busy schedule including visit of Korean Embassy in Uzbekistan alumni meeting. Especially, at the alumni meeting held in downtown Tashkent on the 5th, 17 graduates from Uzbekistan, who are currently active as university presidents, professors, corporate CEOs, and executives, attended and welcomed President CHOI and expressed their appreciation for their alma mater. With President CHOI’s visit as an opportunity, they officially formed a local alumni association and expressed their intention to actively support Uzbekistan students studying in YU. Among them, an alumni who is serving as the president of Uzbekistan University invited President CHOI and his party to his school the next day and proudly introduced YU's master's degree certificate hanging in the president's office. 

<President of Inhatashkent University, an alumnus of YU, is explaining the master's degree of YU to President CHOI Oe-chool.>

 In relation to the result of this visit, President CHOI Oe-chool said, “As much as exchanges with major universities in developed countries, expanding exchanges with developing countries is very important not only for the development of universities but also for Korea's contribution to the international community.This exchange with Uzbekistan is quite encouraging in the respect that the local top-level universities actively requested exchanges and cooperation. YU has an educational goal of nurturing talents who will contribute to the development of human society. We will actively respond to global requests for fostering global talent. We will unsparingly support talented people who have accumulated professional capabilities in YU so that they may live a life of value while contributing to the common prosperity of Korea and international community.”