Excursion
Renewing Old Partnerships in the Times of COVID-19

The slowly relaxing rules regarding social distancing in South Korea allowed for a trip to Busan in order to meet Prof. Dr. Ralph Wrobel from Westsaxon University of Applied Sciences, who is currently doing a guest professorship at the Graduate School of International Studies of Dong-A University in Busan as part of his sabbatical. Since the Hanns Seidel Foundation Korea and the Dong-A University have had a long history of relations, well back into the period of 2007-2010, this trip served as a great opportunity to renew the existing partnership as well as to look for future common projects.

Dr. Bernhard Seliger, representative of Hanns Seidel Foundation Korea, was also accompanied Dr. Tomasz Wierzbowski, representative of the European research promotion agency Euraxess. The delegation was received at the Graduate School of International Studies of Dong-A University in Busan by Dean Kim Jong-Hyun, PhD, who is also the director of the Multi-Cultural Research Center, and they had the chance to talk about possibilities of cooperation, once Covid-19 has retracted sufficiently.

Afterwards the participants of the delegation, as well as the partners in Busan, gave overviews about current programs. Dr. Wierzbowski presented different European research programs which are looking to cooperate with Korea and attract Korean talent. Hanns Seidel Foundation is planning to hold an exhibition and commemorative workshop at Dong-A University on occasion of the 30th anniversary of German unification. In this context, Na Jinsook, manager at the Graduate School, also gave an overview over the school and the programs that are currently being offered.

During the trip, Dr. Seliger also participated as a discussant in a virtual lecture on international trade that was being held by Prof. Wrobel and afterwards joined him to revisit the new Korean Maritime Museum, where last year the HSF supported a special exhibition on North Korea’s maritime development.