German university to set up graduate school, lab in Busan FEZ

By Lee Joon-seung

SEOUL, April 1 (Yonhap) -- A German university will set up a graduate school and engineering laboratory in Busan that could help the port city in the country's far south become a regional business hub, the government said Wednesday.

The agreement between Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU),
the Busan Metropolitan government and the Busan-Jinhae Free Economic Zone
Authority calls for the branch school to be opened in March 2010 with courses to
be offered in eight engineering, biotech and machinery processing technology
related fields.
The Ministry of Knowledge Economy said the school, to be built inside the free
economic zone (FEZ), will offer an initial masters course to 50 students with a
faculty of 38. The program will be expanded to include doctorate degrees in due
time, it added.
The ministry said the arrangement calls on FAU to invest 25.7 billion won
(US$18.8 million) from 2009 to 2013, with the central government and Busan to
support operating costs for five years and to construct the laboratory building
and related facilities.
The ministry said FAU could help to build up the FEZ, which is striving to become
a major industrial, financial and logistics hub. Schools are an important
resource as they are able to facilitate joint research with companies and act as
a magnet to attract more investments.
Seoul has made efforts to attract foreign schools to establish branch campuses in
the country to improve the quality of education and fuel cooperation between
business and the academic community.
FAU ranked seventh among Germany's 300 universities and is one of the largest
schools in the Bayern region. It is currently engaged in joint research and
development with companies like Siemens AG and Bayer Group.
Its chemical-life science laboratory was rated as the best in Germany. The school
has 11,600 faculty and employees and 26,600 students.