Sahmyook University has signed multilateral MOUs with the University of West Alabama and the Alabama-Korea Education and Economic Partnership (A-KEEP) for the internationalization of education. The main goal is to cooperate with each institution to operate a teacher training course for public schools in Alabama. The agreement was organized by the Asian Branch of the International Education Council (GEI Asia).

The agreement ceremony was held on July 26 in the conference room of the Centennial Memorial Hall, including Alabama State Senators Arthur Orr, Bobby Singleton, Donnie Chesteen, Tim Melson, Steve Livingston, former State Senator Gerald Dial, University of West Alabama President Dr. Ken Tucker, and A-KEEP Secretary General Han Mi-soon and officials from local educational institutions visited.

According to that day’s agreement, Sahmyook University, the University of West Alabama, and A-KEEP agreed to promote the “Alabama State Public Elementary, Middle, and High School Teacher Training Program” (tentative name).

The United States, including Alabama, is experiencing a severe teacher shortage. On the other hand, in Korea, the number of people with teacher certificates after completing teaching courses or graduating from education colleges is overcrowded, while the school-age population is continuously decreasing. Each institution decided to operate this program to resolve this mismatch.

Sahmyook University selects students with a certain level of English proficiency, such as IELTS, among students majoring in the teaching profession and will send them to the University of West Alabama. After completing an additional one-year teacher training course at the university, they will be hired as a teacher at a public elementary, middle, and high school in Alabama.

Sahmyook University and the University of West Alabama agreed to operate various international exchange programs, such as △2+2, 1+3, dual degree programs, △exchange student dispatch △exchange professors, △joint research △seminars, and △academic conferences.

In addition, President Kim Il-mok held a meeting with visiting groups, including former and current Alabama senators and officials from local educational institutions, to discuss the current status, major projects, and common interests of each institution and sought specific ways to cooperate in the fields of education and industry-academia cooperation.

President Kim said, “I hope this agreement will not only strengthen the bond between the two countries by connecting the educational communities of Korea and the United States but also provide an opportunity for many young students to advance into the world. We look forward to continuous exchanges and cooperation in the future.”

The University of West Alabama is a public university in Livingston, Alabama, United States. Established in 1835, the university offers 60 bachelor’s degrees and 20 graduate programs in eight colleges, including business administration, natural sciences, education, and liberal arts, with about 5,500 students currently enrolled.

A-KEEP is a non-profit organization (NGO) that was launched in 2011 and has promoted educational, economic, and cultural exchanges between Korea and Alabama. In particular, it contributed significantly to the official adoption of Korean as a second foreign language by the Alabama State Department of Education in 2016.