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Emergence as a Global Business Hub SUNY Korea (The State University of New York, Korea)
  • Date 2024-12-28
  • Hit 21

Finding out more about the 

<Global Campus> in the IFEZ


Emergence as a Global Business Hub

SUNY Korea 

(The State University 

of New York, Korea)



SUNY Korea is the first American university established in Korea. Students are enrolled in six departments at Stony Brook University(SBU), including Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Applied Mathematics and Statistics, and two departments at Fashion Institute of Technology(FIT), Fashion Design and Fashion Business Management. Yong-Suk SHIN, IFEZ International Cooperation Special Advisor, who is broadening the international, social, historical, and cultural horizons of the local community, sat down for an interview with the President of SUNY Korea, Dr. Arthur H. Lee.








Q  First of all, congratulations on your 12th anniversary. Could you tell me what the motivation was for SUNY Korea to become first American university established at the Incheon Global Campus?

SUNY Korea was the first American university to open in South Korea in 2012 and the first foreign institute of higher education to join the Incheon Global Campus. The Incheon Global Campus project was an initiative led by the Korean government and Incheon Metropolitan City to improve overseas education balance and enhance the competitiveness of global education. It was designed as part of the education and research infrastructure to position the IFEZ as a global business hub. The point of the project is to attract prominent universities from abroad to develop global talents and create a research-oriented international education hub.


The establishment of SUNY Korea was the result of the diligent efforts of many people, including former Vice Prime Minister Myung Oh, known as the Godfather of ICT in Korea. He played a pivotal role in inviting his alma mater, Stony Brook University. That was the starting point for materializing the Incheon Global Campus project.


Q  What colleges and universities are currently part of SUNY Korea?

The State University of New York has a system of 64 colleges and universities, of which Stony Brook University (SBU), a top-tier research university located in the eastern United States, and the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), the world’s No. 1 fashion school, opened in Songdo, Incheon, and have been operating within the SUNY Korea system.

Q  Which specific majors are offered at SUNY Korea?

SBU has six departments: Computer Science, Applied Mathematics & Statistics, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Technology and Society, and Business Management. Competitive and well-rounded curricula are provided by a total of six departments, including ‘Computer Science’ and ‘Applied Mathematics & Statistics,’ which are at the forefront of...big data, data analysis, and artificial intelligence; ‘Mechanical Engineering’ and ‘Electrical and Computer Engineering,’ related to superconductors, semiconductors, autonomous vehicles, and robotics; and ‘Technology and Society’ and ‘Business Management,’ which foster interdisciplinary talents.


In addition, FIT has two departments: Fashion Design and Fashion Business Management. Students can complete an associate’s degree (1st and 2nd year) in Korea and a bachelor’s degree (3rd and 4th year) in New York, USA, or Milan-Florence, Italy.


Q  What is the composition of the student body? Do many international students attend SUNY Korea? What is the international student ratio?

Currently, there are 167 faculty and staff supporting 1,449 students. The cumulative number of countries from which students have attended SUNY Korea over the past 12 years is 69, and the number of countries from which students are enrolled in the Fall Semester 2024 is 44. SBU has 126 foreign students (10.6%) and FIT has 39 foreign students (15.2%), accounting for 11.4% of the total number of our university students. This accounts for about 44% of the total foreign students at the Incheon Global Campus.


Q  Could you tell me about the admissions process and selection criteria?

SBU has two admission periods per year, 

for both the spring and fall semesters, while FIT 

students are only admitted in the fall. Required documents include high school transcripts in 

English, a cover letter, letters of recommendation, certified English proficiency scores. Students are selected on the Admission Officer System. We offer a variety of admission processes, including regular admission, streamlined admissions for students 

with excellent CSAT scores, and conditional admission for those who do not meet the required English proficiency scores.





Q  What is the employment rate for SUNY Korea graduates?

Graduates’ paths may be divided into employment and further education, depending on what the student chooses to pursue. As of the Spring semester of 2023, SBU maintained an employment rate of about 84%, with more than 50% of graduates employed in the United States and other countries. SBU students spend three of their four years taking undergraduate courses on the Korean campus and one year on the American campus, and students who complete their fourth year on the American campus will have the opportunity to work in the U.S. Thanks to this program, many graduates are employed by leading U.S. companies such as Google, Microsoft, Meta (Facebook), Amazon, Morgan Stanley, and Deloitte. Others pursue graduate studies at prestigious institutions like Harvard, Stanford, Cornell, Columbia, and Vanderbilt, or join world-renowned organizations such as Brookhaven National Laboratory.


As of the Spring Semester of 2023, FIT maintained an employment rate of 88%, with about 81% of graduates continuing their studies on campuses in the United States or Italy. Other students have successfully secured jobs in the domestic and international fashion industry, including luxury brands such as Dior and Louis Vuitton.


Q  Do you have any requests for the Korean Government’s Ministry of Education, Incheon Metropolitan City, and IFEZ?

First, as a foreign institution of higher education, we have been asked by local citizens, organizations, and companies to provide a variety of lifelong education courses. SUNY Korea has a development plan based on three major initiatives: developing and providing non-academic and customized academic curricula to improve adult competencies; developing refresher and enhancement courses tailored to companies’ needs; and collaborating with local governments to expand lifelong education courses for for the local community. It would be beneficial if the Ministry of Education could amend the Lifelong Education Act to provide institutional support for foreign institutions of higher education to offer their own specialized lifelong education courses to the community.


It would also be helpful if the IFEZ could act as a bridge between various companies and universities in the Free Economic Zone to facilitate industry-academia collaboration. This will facilitate cooperation between universities and companies and contribute to the revitalization of the local economy.


In addition, if there are support programs for foreigners, many foreign talents who graduated from universities will be able to settle and prosper in Incheon as part of the community. I hope that visa issues, such as restrictions on employment caused by the current visa system, will be systematically alleviated in the free economic zone. This will help Incheon become a more international city and contribute to the settlement of foreign talents in the country.


Lastly, as the number of students at increases, it is necessary to improve the living environment of campuses. Now, there is a serious shortage of student housing, which can directly affect the influx of foreign students; therefore, urgent measures should be taken as soon as possible. I hope that the requests mentioned above will be taken into consideration so that universities and the local community can comfortably coexist.





Q  Research on AI-related technologies is actively being conducted in Korea, and I’m wondering how SUNY Korea is doing in this area and what plans it has for the future.

In September of this year, SBU opened a new AI Innovation Institute, expanding on the existing Institute for AI-driven Discovery, which was established in 2018 at the college level. SBU has also distinguished itself in the AI field by participating as one of seven founding institutions in the Empire AI Consortium, a $400 million public-private partnership, the first of its kind in the United States, organized by New York State as part of transformational initiatives to position itself as a leader in global AI research and development. In line with SBU’s commitment to AI research, SUNY Korea is also looking for ways to establish an AI lab on campus and facilitate various research exchanges.


Q  As the current president of SUNY Korea, could you tell me about your educational philosophy and vision for the future of the university?

Currently, we are working to reinvent ourselves by implementing a long-term development plan which will keep SUNY Korea at the vanguard of innovation among foreign institutions of higher education. Under the value of shared prosperity, we have established four core strategies: helping students succeed, improving education quality, boosting research, and building a global education infrastructure. We are currently working on projects with a focus on enhancing the value of the university and giving it a competitive advantage.


We are committed to providing global campus experiences for our students while seeking to enhance the curriculum and academic support systems. We offer a wide range of research opportunities for undergraduate students and maintain a low faculty-student ratio (1:9 and 1:6 at SBU and FIT, respectively) to provide differentiated educational experiences.

To improve the academic environment, a multi-year environmental improvement project is underway, including remodeling the library, reorganizing and rebranding academic, research, work, and rest zones across campus, and updating and expanding equipment and technology.


We also plan to continue and expand the Shared Prosperity Scholarship program, which has been supporting students from developing countries since 2012, as part of our plan to attract more international students. In total, students from 69 countries have attended SUNY Korea, and we plan to increase the number of international students and their countries of origin through collaboration with various related organizations in Korea and abroad.


In the next decade, we plan to continue investing in and improving the educational and research environment so that our university can grow further. Going forward, all faculty will continue to do their best, and we would also like to reach a wider and more diverse range of students than ever before by taking advantage the strengths of our STEAM-focused curriculum.



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