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UW Oshkosh Chancellor Richard Wells and Dr. Man-chai Chang, Educational Governor of JOE, sign an agreement Aug. 12, “to cooperate to provide the opportunity for Korean teachers and education administrators to earn a Master’s of Science in Educational Leadership within the College of Education & Human Services (COEHS).”

The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh has another, new educational partner on the other side of the globe.

On Aug. 12, representatives of the Jeollanam-do Office of Education (JOE), the education authority of Jeollanam Province of Korea, met and signed a memorandum of understanding with UW Oshkosh officials. Both parties “agree to cooperate to provide the opportunity for Korean teachers and education administrators to earn a Master’s of Science in Educational Leadership within the College of Education & Human Services (COEHS).”

“We’re really looking forward to having the students here and bringing change for our students as well,” UW Oshkosh College of Education and Human Services Dean Fred Yeo said just before the two institutions’ leaders signed the new agreement in Reeve Memorial Union.

Per the new agreement, JOE agrees to assign ten to fifteen teachers and education administrators each year to earn a Master’s degree at UW Oshkosh. The university will cover program expenses while UW Oshkosh’s Office of International Education will commit to provide one hour’s free tutoring per week in support of the visiting students. Eleven are currently scheduled to arrive and begin their students in the fall semester.

To earn the Master’s of Science in Educational Leadership, JOE students must complete 30 total credits and meet all other program and university graduation requirements.

The two institutions also agree to “cooperate to streamline the admissions process for JOE applicants who meet UW Oshkosh Master’s of Science in Educational Leadership admissions requirements.” UW Oshkosh will pilot the acceptance of Test of English Proficiency (TEPS) and Test of English for International Community (TOEIC) scores in place of Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) scores for this program in year one.

The UW Oshkosh program already draws many students who are Pk-12 classroom teachers who are planning to continue teaching at the Pk-12 level. “They typically select coursework associated with their teaching areas as well as other courses offered in the Educational Leadership Department or the larger College of Education and Human Services,” the COEHS program’s website states.

The program has also been popular with post-secondary education teachers, or students who hope to become those teachers in the near future, and people in “business, the nonprofit sector, health care and community education roles.” They typically “choose courses from the Educational Leadership Department as well as those from the College of Business, Master in Public Administration and more. Instruction is designed to respond to the wide and varied interests/experiences of our students,” according to the COEHS.

Chancellor Richard Wells said the partnership will help strengthen diversity and internationalization on campus as more students from abroad are welcomed to UW Oshkosh and become part of the campus community.

“This is especially important to UW Oshkosh,” Wells said.

It is not the first agreement struck between UW Oshkosh and higher education institutions in Korea.

In July 2011, UW Oshkosh and Chungnam National University (CNU) in Daejeon, South Korea, signed an international dual degree agreement giving students from both partner institutions the opportunity to earn degrees from each university.

A dual degree is achieved when a student begins coursework at one university and then transitions to the other partner university. The partner university reviews coursework from the first institution and provides the student the opportunity to obtain a second degree.

 

Learn more:

 

UW Oshkosh Office of International Education