Cultivating Talented Individuals

Affiliation: GASPS
Year: PhD 2nd
Name: KANG, Kyuwon
Itinerary: 06/11/2010 - 06/20/2010(Month/Date/Year)

Istanbul, Turkey

• Purpose of trip to Istanbul
  To make a presentation about "Growing presence of Asia in Korean cross-border higher education in the context of Asian harmonization of higher education" at World Council of Comparative Education Societies (WCCES) 2010
• Purpose of research
  To capture the presence of Asia in Korean cross-border higher education by particularly examining the regional preferences of cross-border activities in two different levels: national and institutional in which it takes the Seoul National University (SNU), as a case study.

While presence of Asia is apparent in Korean cross-border higher education, the level of sub regional preference varies according to the types of cross-border activities. In general Northeast Asia, North America, and Western Europe are the top 3 most preferred sub regions for overall cross-border activities. Among Asian sub regions, Northeast Asia is the most active partner across the different types of cross-border activities. Being active in initiating policy discussions to develop Korea as a regional higher education hub and already showing active cross-border higher education partnership with Northeast Asia, Korea may act as a mediator between Japan and China to promote Asian regionalization of higher education.

By making a presentation at WCCES 2010, I received valuable inputs and feedbacks from other researchers to improve my research. Furthermore, by attending others' presentations, I learned that the topic of regionalization of higher education was growingly becoming an important issue to discuss worldwide, and especially many presentations were about regionalization of higher education in European region. The presentation about theories and processes of regionalization of higher education helped me to re-think about my structure of research and to develop it further. As I was preparing for the presentation at WCCES, I realized that I needed to conduct another survey to support my research. Since I am planning to have my mid-term examination in September 2010, realizing what lacks in my research was also valuable finding for me.

In addition to receiving valuable inputs and information about my research, I also met with a number of eminent researchers who share the similar research interest with me. We exchanged our contact information with each other with the promise of sharing the research sources and information. I tried to talk with the researchers, who have the similar research interests, after their presentations or during the coffee break in order to understand how other researchers approach the topic of regionalization of higher education. I believe that such network will help me to develop my research further in the future.

I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to participate at WCCES this year, and all the valuable feedbacks, inputs, and comments received from other researchers will be incorporated into my research. Furthermore, I will continue to keep in touch with some researchers to discuss about the research in the future.

Thank you very much.

Academic Adviser: Prof. Kazuo KURODA

KANG, Kyuwon / Istanbul, Turkey [703KB]