FACTS ABOUT UCSD’S KOREAN TIES AND OTHER UNIVERSITY HIGHLIGHTS

Robert C. Dynes, chancellor of the University of California, San Diego, will be in Seoul, Korea, from June 22-26 to attend the 1998 Conference for the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) and to strengthen UCSD’s Korean ties. He will attend individual and group meetings, as well as host a reception for "UCSD Friends," including alumni, and business, academic and public sector associates. He will discuss UCSD’s world-class reputation in science, technology and Pacific Rim-oriented international affairs programs, and the University’s impact on San Diego’s leading wireless communications and biotech industries. He will talk about the San Diego/Baja California Region, which is home to 50+ Korean companies, including major Korean conglomerates that operate maquiladoras in Mexico. Dynes will share his views about this year’s APRU conference. UCSD is a charter member of APRU, which was founded in 1997 as an association of presidents of the premiere research organizations around the Pacific Rim.

• "UCSD has enjoyed many wonderful relationships with Korean students, as well as academic, business and government associates. I’m here to help foster existing friendships and cultivate new ones. We want to ensure that more Koreans are familiar with ‘The UCSD Story’ and that they, in turn, become part of our future history."
• "UCSD is committed to international education and academic exchanges. As Korea’s President Kim Dae Jung so eloquently stated in a recent Los Angeles Timesarticle, ‘Korean-Americans well versed in both cultures and languages can become valuable bridges in the future of the two nations…In a global economy, multilingual and multicultural people on both sides of the Pacific are indispensable.’ That parallel goes in both directions. UCSD is equipped to provide the tools needed to develop these bridge-building capabilities."
• "UCSD recognizes that Korea is currently experiencing financial problems and that times are difficult. But we are optimistic that Korea will adapt successfully and emerge that much stronger."

BACKGROUND:

• UCSD has been home to Korean students and faculty through its Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies (IR/PS), the only professional international school in the U.S. to focus exclusively on the Pacific Rim. IR/PS also houses the International Career Associates Program (ICAP) for mid-level executives, the research-oriented Korea-Pacific Program and the APEC Study Center.
• Other UCSD international resources with Korean ties include the Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies (CILAS), San Diego Dialogue, the English Language Program, the University of California’s systemwide Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC) and UCSD’s International Center.
• UCSD’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, School of Medicine, CONNECT program for technology and entrepreneurship, Irwin and Joan Jacobs School of Engineering and San Diego Supercomputer Center also have Korean connections.
• UCSD enjoys close ties with several leading Korean universities, including Seoul’s Yonsei University, with which IR/PS is collaborating on a joint research project, "Regional Multilateralism in Asia." UCSD collaborates with other leading universities in Korea. And visiting scholars from Korea contribute important findings to UCSD’s research programs.
• UCSD Library and Seoul National University Library are two of 13 prestigious academic libraries in the Pacific Rim Digital Library Alliance, which was formed to facilitate access to scholarly research through various digital networks.
• Chancellor Dynes is a renowned physicist and an expert in semiconductors and superconductors.
• Although only 38 years old, UCSD ranks 10th in the United States in the excellence of its graduate programs and the quality of its faculty, according to the most highly regarded ranking of universities, released in 1995 by the National Research Council (NRC).
• In the NRC survey, UCSD’s oceanography program (Scripps Institution of Oceanography) and the neurosciences program were both rated as first in the nation. Other specialties ranked in the top 10 include biology, physiology, genetics, bioengineering, political science, anthropology, pharmacology, psychology and geoscience.
• A 1998 survey of graduate programs by U.S. News and World Reportranks UCSD’s School of Medicine among the top 10 in the nation, the Jacobs School of Engineering as 21st , and the Department of Political Science as 10th. The survey ranked UCSD third in drama/theater and 12th in film programs.
• UCSD is a conduit to San Diego businesses, many of which have direct dealings with Korean companies — in the United States and Korea.
• UCSD benefits by its location in San Diego, a city that has footholds in industries that are fueling growth into the 21st century — wireless communications, software and computer electronics, biotechnology and medical instrumentation.
• UCSD is an entrepreneurial university and has quickly become a pioneer in scientific and technological fields. UCSD industry partnerships are revolutionizing the nation’s computational infrastructure, manufacturing vectors for gene therapy, improving wireless telecommunications, and mining the structure of proteins for future drugs.
• San Diego’s strategic location on the U.S.-Mexico border provides UCSD with instant access to companies that have set up Mexican maquiladoras, including Korean conglomerates Samsung, Hyundai, Daewoo and the LG Group (Lucky Goldstar). At least 25 small- and medium-sized Korean suppliers operate in the region. The influx of Korean companies to the San Diego/Baja California Region triggered the formation of an independent Korean Maquiladora Association.