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The Korea campus of George Mason University plans to start new degree programs on diverse subjects such as conflict resolution, game design and systems engineering in March 2016.
"The conflict analysis and resolution program is an innovative example of multidisciplinary, pragmatic and problem-focused social science that is perfect for the Korean Peninsula," Angel Cabrera, president of the university based in Fairfax, Virginia, told The Korea Times in a recent interview.
He said that the program is to treat conflict as a phenomenon to be studied and addressed.
He explained that conflict analysis and resolution specializ
es in the problem of deep-rooted conflict and the cycles of escalation that distract people from their rational best interests.
"We have a world-class school dedicated to the theory and practice of conflict resolution in Fairfax, and we are excited to get them started with a new Korea-based student body," he said.
The program provides bachelor of arts degrees.
Computer game design is also a degree program in which students can study both science and the arts.
"It is one of the most transformational areas of study in higher education today," Cabrera said.
It also offers a bachelor of fine arts undergraduate degree.
He said the school has the U.S. Serious Game Institute in partnership with the University of Coventry U.K. that focuses on conducting game-related research and cultivating new game companies.
As for the systems engineering program, students can learn effective ways to use valuable resources including people, machines, materials, information and energy from the classes. The program offers bachelor of science and masters of science degrees.
George Mason University Korea established its Korea campus in Songdo, Incheon, in March 2014. It is the second foreign university campus nested on the Incheon Global Campus (IGC) after that of the State University of New York.
The IGC is a global education hub established and supported by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Education and Incheon Metropolitan City.
George Mason's Songdo campus is now recruiting students for the spring semester. Applications will be accepted until Jan. 30. The university seeks to recruit 80 students majoring in management, 80 in economics and 30 in global affairs for the new term.
Global experience
Cabrera stressed that the aim of the Songdo campus is to cultivate global leaders who have both technical and emotional knowledge.
"Technical knowledge comes from study, practice and dedication while social and emotional knowledge only comes from exposure to other people, other cultures and other contexts, and gradually learning how to analyze the new culture and adapt one's behavior to be successful in that new culture," he said.
This is what he says is so important about building George Mason's infrastructure of global experience, of which its Korea campus is the most visible part.
"Tomorrow's global leader is not someone who knows how to dominate other people. Instead, one should have both technical knowledge to solve cutting-edge scientific puzzles and social and emotional knowledge to provide former strangers with solutions to problems," he said.
He also expressed his view on global leadership in his latest book "Being Global: How to Think, Act and Lead in a Transformed World," published by Harvard Business Review in 2012.
In the book, he describes successful leaders as those who have skill sets to work and play with people of different cultures.
"When a student graduates from George Mason, we want them to be entrepreneurial, skilled and capable of success anywhere in the world," Cabrera said. "We believe there is no better environment to produce such a student than Songdo, Korea, one of the most dynamic points on the globe."
Quality education
"An international campus like Songdo is a dual gateway from East to West and West to East," Cabrera said.
"Students who come to Mason Korea from Asia will have the experience of an American university while remaining close to home. Those who come from the U.S. and the West will have the same experience, but in the Asian context," he added.
The most important part is whether the school can provide good quality education equivalent to George Mason at Fairfax.
"We knew the only way to succeed was to bring the exact form of education that we've succeeded with in Fairfax, Virginia," Cabrera said. "We made a commitment to staff Mason Korea with the same quality professors, the same open and exploratory classroom experience, and the same investment in experiential learning."
George Mason has had some notable faculty members ― including the late James McGill Buchan, Jr. and Vernon Smith, who is now retired ― which is a key reason the school has been named one of the top 200 research universities by the Academic Ranking of World Universities.
"We have designed the program to make Mason Korea students spend at least a year in Fairfax as part of their education so that they can take classes that any other George Mason student could take in the U.S.," Cabrera said.
Currently George Mason Korea has strong business, economics and global studies programs, which set it apart from other foreign schools in Songdo.
Given that Korean students are interested in those kinds of studies, the school will likely attract more Korean students.
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Photo 1: Ángel Cabrera. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services/George Mason University
Photo 2: George Mason University's new campus in Songdo, Korea, which has been dubbed Mason Korea. Photo by Ji Kang
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