South Korea's Hannam University Enter into Mutual Opportunities Agreement

Officials from Arkansas State University and Hannam University
in South Korea joined Thursday morning to sign agreements that will
establish a foundation for the leadership of both institutions to search
for collaborative opportunities that will mutually benefit both schools.
The ceremony took place in the lobby of the ASU Administration Building.

The documents were in both English and Korean and signed by ASU
representatives Dr. Robert L. Potts, chancellor, and Dr. Dan Howard,
executive vice chancellor and provost, and the South Korean delegation
which included Dr. Hyungtae Kim, president of Hannam University; Dr.
Young Sung Suh, dean of the Office of Global Relations and professor of
the Department of Mechanical Engineering; and Wonbae Kim, director of
the Center for International Relations.
"It's particularly touching to have a delegation from a
wonderful university from South Korea on our campus today," said
Chancellor Potts. "These are an optimistic, wonderful people and South
Korea has one of the strongest economies in the world.

ASU is involved
in a process of internationalizing our campus--taking ASU to the world
and bringing the world to ASU--and we have done that through the support
of our faculty, staff and administration."
Potts commended Dr. Howard, Director of International Student
Services Tugrul Polat and the staff in International Programs for their
work in helping to build academic relationships through ASU's
international programs. He also pointed out that, economically, ASU's
international program is very important to the university's budget, and
he cited the professional operation by the program's staff and the
support of ASU's faculty and students.

Arkansas State University has previously entered into
globalization agreements with universities in China, Japan, Kuwait and
Turkey. During the 2009-10 academic year, 456 international students in
the degree program and 330 in the English as a Second Language (ESL)
program representing nearly 65 countries attended Arkansas State.
The three agreements between ASU and Hannam University will allow
the exchange of academic courses and programs and for ASU to offer
English as a Second Language on the Hannam University campus.

University
officials anticipate future ASU students can begin their academic
careers at Hannam University where they can study on the undergraduate
level for two to three years. Most of the courses taken will transfer to
Arkansas State.
The second arrangement calls for spending two academic years at
Hannam University and two calendar years at ASU to pursue a degree in a
specific discipline.

If a student studies three calendar years at
Hannam, he or she can receive two degrees-one at HU and the other at
ASU.
All courses taken at ASU will transfer to Hannam and students
have the opportunity to earn two baccalaureate degrees from the two
universities in a four-year academic career.
The third portion of the agreement states that ASU will deliver
English as second language at Hannam University.

Instructors from the
two institutions will join forces to present the courses.
"It has been our dream to create a global community which
brings Arkansas State University to the world and the world to Arkansas
State University," said Dr. Howard. "It provides a much more diverse and
much more enriched community at our university."
Hannam University, which just celebrated its 50th anniversary,
was founded in March, 1956, through the efforts of Dr. William A.
Linton, chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the American Southern
Presbyterian Mission in Korea. Hannam University is located in Daejeon
in the center of South Korea. It is the fifth largest city in South
Korea, with a population of approximately 1.5 million.