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Brown University, one of Ivy League universities, is actively recruiting Korean students with high acumen and academic achievement to complement its reputation for excellence. “We are sending several officials to Korea each year. During the past two trips, representatives from the College Admission Office visited several different high schools,” Ruth J. Simmons, president of Brown University, said in an interview with The Korea Times.

The female president named the schools one by one including Korean Minjok Leadership Academy and foreign language high schools; Ewha, Hanyoung, Yongin, Daewon, Seoul Foreign and Seoul International School.

“We have held receptions and `introduction nights’ so that students and counselors have an opportunity to meet with Brown’s representatives and alumni,” she added.

Brown also has a close connection with several Korean universities such as Seoul National University, Ewha Womans University, University of Suwon and Yonsei University.

“The University of Suwon generously endowed a lecture fund at Brown in honor of its President Lee Jong-wook and Brown’s former President Vartan Gregorian. There is additionally a special fund established between Brown and Yonsei University in Seoul to support student and faculty exchanges,” Simmons said.

In the past two years, Korea has been in the top five countries outside the United States in terms of the number of students who are admitted to Brown University, according to the school’s admission office.

Currently, there are 55 undergraduate students from Korea, and more than 140 Korean students have applied for admission for the class of students who will graduate in 2011.

“Our school has also 55 graduate students from Korea studying in 16 different programs. Of those, physics, engineering, and economics are the top three graduate programs in which students from Korea are enrolled,” Simmons explained.

Of international students at Brown in 2005-06, Korea was placed third with a total of 99 undergraduate and graduate students, following China with 145 students.

Asked for some tips for Brown University hopefuls in Korea, Simmons said they need to be prepared well in academic performance, extracurricular activities, personal qualities, leadership skills and contributions that they can offer to the university.

“We look for individuals who will pose challenging questions inside and outside the classroom, and encourage other students to excel during their college experience,” she said.

Globalization is an issue that the leading research school concerns most today as well as other universities. Hence, Brown has established an internationalization committee and has created a new vice president for an international affairs position.

The university also aims to increase the diversity of international students on campus. As a part of the efforts to draw more foreign students, it has been putting in additional resources that are only for foreign students since October 2006.

“Internationalization is one of the fastest growing expenditure categories. The financial aid budget will grow by 10 percent over the current year’s expenditures to $56.9 million. Brown will spend nearly 40 percent more on programs of financial aid for international students over the next four years,” Simmons said. “Finally, we hope that our faculty, students, and alumni are contributing in major ways to solutions of significant global problems,” she added.

While Korean universities have seen a decrease in the number of courses related to humanities studies, the liberal arts are alive and well at Brown and the top majors chosen by students in the last decade have remained quite stable, the president said.

In 1990, a majority of Brown’s students chose to major in international relations, history, biological sciences, economics, and political science. Last year, biological sciences replaced international relations as the top choice; and English replaced economics. History and political science remained in the same relative position. “Brown is often referred to as a `university college,’ because it sustains the values of a small liberal arts college within the context of a research university,” Simmons said.

Lastly, the president revealed her plan to recruit more faculty in order to maintain a close working relationship among professors and students. “Encouraging student-faculty interaction is essential to our educational philosophy. Students are encouraged to visit professors outside class and talk with them not only about the course they are taking, but also about their feelings on many other subjects.”

Moreover, Brown students have the opportunity to engage in high-level research projects with their professors. Even first-year or second-year students are encouraged to work with their professors in this way, the president said.

Graduating from Dillard University in New Orleans in 1967, Simmons received her Ph.D. in Romance languages and literature from Harvard University in 1973.

In 1993, she was invited to review the state of race relations on the Princeton campus, she served as president of Smith College from 1995 until the time she was appointed as the 18th president of Brown University in 2001.

Author: Kang Shin-who From: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr

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