George Mason University Korea Campus eyes hub role in US-Korea education ties

George Mason University Korea Campus is working to establish itself as a hub for education and research cooperation linking the United States and South Korea.

The Korea Campus announced Thursday that it had discussed ways to strengthen US-Korea education cooperation with a US delegation of federal House lawmakers and officials from the US Embassy in Seoul.

The delegation recently visited the Korea Campus to tour its operations and academic programs.

The visit was organized at the initiative of Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, who represents a Virginia congressional district.

The delegation included four US House members — Subramanyam, Young Kim of California, Randy Feenstra of Iowa and Michael Cloud of Texas — along with a professional staff member from the House Foreign Affairs Committee and officials from the US Embassy in Seoul responsible for economic and public diplomacy affairs.

During the visit, the delegation held a roundtable with university leadership and received a briefing on the Korea Campus's operations and academic outcomes.

The two sides also exchanged views on expanding educational cooperation and student exchanges for developing global talent, as well as ways to promote research collaboration.

"This visit by the US delegation was highly meaningful," said Joshua Park, representative of George Mason University Korea Campus. "We will continue to work toward nurturing globally competitive talent as a hub for education and research cooperation connecting the two countries."

George Mason University Korea Campus is an international branch campus of George Mason University, Virginia's largest public research university, and offers the same curriculum and degrees as the main US campus.

Students can build an international academic experience by studying at both the Korea Campus and the main Fairfax, Virginia campus.

The main US campus is located near Washington, D.C., giving it strong ties to federal agencies and global companies. It has also been building its graduates' competitiveness in the US job market through STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — programs, with majors including economics, data science and computer game design.

Last year, the Wall Street Journal ranked the university 32nd among US public universities and 71st overall in its college rankings, a recognition of its academic standing.