Korean American Educational Research Center partner for recruitment

(Tahlequah, Okla.)Northeastern State University and the Korean American Educational Research Center will work together to facilitate the universitys enrollment of Korean students.

NSU and KAERC entered into a memorandum of understanding on August 15 to begin recruitment of students in South Korea. Steve Yang, owner of the KAERC, and Dr. Christee Jenlink, dean of NSU-Broken Arrow, signed the memorandum.

Within the partnership, KAERC will match NSU with Korean students and, after a year of study in Korea, send them to finish their degrees at NSU.

The KAERC will look at state and private institutions throughout Korea which might be a good match for us, said Dr. Richard Carhart, executive director of international studies at NSU. These would be universities which have similar programs and tuition structures, a good English as a Second Language program and many students who wish to attend college in the U.S.

The KAERC is conducting the search for Korean universities that will work with NSU.

This is a nice way to establish partnerships with Korean institutions, because we need not go from university to university to do it, Carhart said. There are arrangements to be made concerning getting student visa set up and matching programs and course articulations between these universities and NSU.

Carhart said the Office of Business Affairs, with the help of President Martin Tadlock and David Koehn, vice president for business and finance, worked to arrange a small financial incentive for Korean students considering NSU.

Theyve come up with a slight decrease on out-of-state tuition for Korean students who attend through the network, Carhart said. Our Japanese students get a similar deal. Our out-of-state tuition is about $10,000 a year less than the national average for public institutions, so our financial structure is already appealing.

The KAERC will notify NSU in the coming months of suitable Korean universities with which agreements can be reached.

Yang looked at NSU for six months, Carhart said. The analysis included location, cost of living, courses of study and Korean students already on campus. Once he has identified and talked to suitable matches, he will personally visit Dr. Jenlink and discuss the universities which are interested in partnership.

The first students recruited through the program will arrive on NSUs campuses for the fall 2013 term.

For more information call the NSU Office of International Programs at 918-444-2050.