Samford University in Birmingham has already spent significant time in 2013 increasing its profile in Asia. And it started in January in a classroom of Indonesian third-graders.
Samford student Natalie Mitchell was among those helping them study English on a January trip to their school. “We sang simple songs with them like ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’ and read them children’s books, which they loved,” Mitchell said.
She and seven other Samford education students traveled to Jakarta, Indonesia, with Jeanna Westmoreland, course lecturer for Foundations, Samford’s first-year experience course, and wife of Samford President Andrew Westmoreland. “The trip to Indonesia opened the eyes of eight young women to the needs and opportunities found in a radically different culture,” Jeanna Westmoreland said.
The January term course was part of a multipurpose initiative aimed at building Samford’s reputation in Asia, especially within the region’s Christian communities. Samford wants to raise recruitment among Asian students and provide a richer international experience for those already at Samford.
Andrew Westmoreland and several others traveled to Indonesia, China and the Republic of Korea (South Korea) as part of the initiative. That group included School of the Arts Dean Joe Hopkins, Samford international recruiter Hunter Denson and Beeson Divinity School Dean Timothy George.
Samford has recruited about 175 students from China since 2010 and a few from other Asian nations, but the university would like to see these numbers grow. With the help of friends in each of the three nations recently visited, Samford is establishing ties that could help meet that goal.
In Indonesia, the Westmorelands have assisted and supported a K–12 school and an 8,000-student university — both Christian — begun in the 1990s. The opportunity for exchange programs with the Indonesian university Universitas Pelita Harapan, located near Jakarta, is being explored.
Denson said he saw “exceptional recruitment possibilities” in Indonesia because of its use of an international baccalaureate curriculum, some focus on Christ-centered education and high English-language proficiency.
In China, the group met with Roger Wang, head of a company that helps Samford recruit students from that nation. To build greater “brand awareness” of Samford in China, Wang suggested pursuing memoranda of understanding with some leading universities. The Samford group visited the University of Science and Technology, as well as the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, beginning dialogues aimed at signing cooperative agreements.
Denson noted that Wang’s efforts had drawn large crowds of qualified students to informational sessions on studying at Samford.
In the Republic of Korea (South Korea), Far East Broadcasting Company Chairman Billy Kim — who spoke at Samford’s commencement last May — arranged a schedule enabling Andrew Westmoreland to preach and Hopkins to sing before several thousand people at three large churches in Seoul and other cities. They also met with church and business leaders and the South Korean prime minister in meetings arranged by Kim and D. K. Lee, past president of Rotary International and recipient of an honorary doctorate from Samford.
The Christian movement is growing in South Korea, said Denson, making Samford’s Christ-focused education a great fit for many Korean students.
“Perhaps hundreds of doors have opened to us over the past three weeks,” Andrew Westmoreland said upon his return in late January. “The trip exceeded our expectations to the extent that I find it impossible to describe the impact.”
(SU)
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