Fulbright U.S. Education Center

A lot has been happening these days at Fulbright Korea and we thought it would be appropriate to inform you of developments with a short post here.

Without question, the change most visible to people who visit us here in Seoul is the new granite exterior that was installed in the spring and early summer of this year.  The original, old sandstone exterior had a certain appeal, but it was difficult to keep clean and maintain.  The new granite, as you can see from the two pictures contained in this post (click on photo to see a full-size version)is much cleaner.  In the process of re-doing the building’s exterior we were also able to solve some drainage and insulation problems.

Another recent set of changes has more to do with how people will see Fulbright Korea over the internet.  Earlier this year we upgraded the speed of our fiber optic connection to the internet, partly in anticipation of changes that will take place as we enhance our web-based information services on behalf of U.S. schools and other educational organizations.  Since we already have several strands of fiber optic coming directly into our building, this simply involved a visit from KT technicians.

Earlier in the Summer we received a $25,000 grant from the Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. State Department.   The money is being expended entirely with a focus on augmenting our ability to gather, edit and publish video material on our websites.  This is an exciting development for Fulbright, and it should help us to stay relevant in this, the world’s most densely networked nation.  You can review our current services at http://www.educationusa.or.kr/en/usec/services.php We will soon be adding video-conferencing activities to the mix.

Finally, the same State Department Office has asked us to host a regional technology conference in April of next year, which will also focus on gathering, editing and using video in Education USA Advising Centers.  We’ve started preliminary planning for that gathering and will publish information here as it gets closer.

Comments on any of these developments are most welcome.

Fulbright’s U.S. Education Center is a U.S. State Department -affiliated advising center.  The mission of that center is to help promote education in the United States by providing information and advice to Koreans who seek to study there.  In keeping with the Fulbright mission to build intercultural and educational exchange between the United States and Korea, the U.S. Education Center also offers services to help U.S. schools, study fairs and other educational institutions promote their programs in South Korea.  This blog will describe both the advising services and the web-based promotional services that are offered through the U.S. Education Center.  We encourage comments and questions from a broad range of institutional partners in the United States.  Don’t hesitate to post questions about services that we may not presently offer, but that you think we should!