□ The Ministry of Education (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Sang Kon KIM) and the ASEM-DUO Programme Foundation (Director-General Keuk Je SUNG) selected 100 finalists of the ASEM DUO-KOREA Fellowship Programme on 20 June 2017.

 

○ The DUO-KOREA Fellowship Programme is part of the ASEM-DUO Programme, which aims to promote one to one exchange of students between Korea and 30 ASEM member countries in Europe.

 

□ The ASEM-DUO Programme, one of the Korea’s leading education cooperation Programmes in the Asian-Europe region, was jointly proposed by France and Singapore, which was endorsed at ASEM 3 in 2000.

 

○ Since the establishment of the ASEM Secretariat in 2001, it has supported about 3,400 students and professors/teachers in Asia and Europe. Indeed, it has contributed to enhancing mutual understanding and balanced human exchanges between Asia and Europe.

 

□ The DUO-KOREA Fellowship Programme was commenced with the financial support of the Korean government in 2001, which has supported exchanges of about 1,650 students and educators in Korea and Europe.

 

□ The list of awarded finalists is announced annually on the ASEM-DUO Programme website (www.asemduo.org). This year, 50 teams of students were selected from a total of 313 teams of applicants, with a ratio of about 6 to 1.

 

○ The awarded students are paired (one student from Korea and one student from Europe), then mutually exchanged to study in a partner university for one semester. They will have an opportunity to learn about a wide range of knowledge and promote mutual understanding by experiencing one another’s language and culture.

 

→ “The ASEM-DUO Fellowship Programme was like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I hope other students will study and learn about diverse cultures through this Programme. It is a valuable experience to partake in an opportunity like this to broaden the understanding of other cultures, and get a new perspective on life.” Ante Karman, DUO-KOREA participant

 

□ Director-General Yeonghan CHOI of the International Education Cooperation Division at the Ministry of Education emphasized that, “the ASEM-DUO Fellowship Programme is an excellent educational cooperation program, which has contributed to the balanced exchange between the member countries in Asia and Europe.

 

○ And further noted, “the 6^th ASEM Education Ministerial Meeting will be hosted by Korea, and we will continue to inform other member countries of the Programme and encourage them to become a donor and partake in it.

 

*unofficial translation