TO BOOST its academic programs, the South Korean Silla University, led by its president, Dr. Hong-sub Jung, and the director of its Office of External Affairs and Development, Dr. Yoon-kyung Kim, signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with Rector Fr. Tamerlane Lana, O.P. and Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs Dr. Armando de Jesus last Jan. 10 at the Rector’s Hall. The agreement covers student and professor exchanges as well as research collaborations.
Silla University, a Korean university in Busan that has almost 20,000 students, is specifically interested in the University’s Engineering and Education programs, areas which, according to de Jesus, the school would like to strengthen.
“The Koreans are crazy about learning English,” de Jesus said. “They want to expose Korean students to the English medium of instruction so they are seeking professor and student exchanges (with UST).”
Meanwhile, the University also entered into an agreement with the Indonesian university, Sayarif Hidayatullah Universitas Islam Negeri (UIN), last Dec. 15.
In the memorandum of understanding signed by Vice-Rector Fr. Juan Ponce, O.P. and UIN vice-rector Dr. Abbudin Nata, both universities committed to undertake joint research programs, academic activities and student and faculty exchanges.
In addition, UIN, through its Faculty of Philosophy, entered into a special partnership with the UST Faculties of Philosophy and Sacred Theology.
Through the tie-up, the three faculties hope to accomplish research collaborations, community outreach programs, and improved teaching.
According to Fr. Johannes Robinni Marianto, O.P., one of the pioneers of the linkage, UST was the first Catholic University to have established a formal link with the Islamic university.
Marianto said the University’s linkage with an Islamic institution is an opportunity for a religious dialogue to promote peace.
To date, the University has some 40 academic linkages with foreign universities and institutions worldwide. April Dawn Jennifer C. Adriatico and Marlene H. Elmenzo
