Our university became an official member of Agence universitaire de la Francophonie (hereinafter “AUF”), which is an international network of higher education institutions in French-speaking regions.

AUF is an higher education and research association with 835 institutions from 111 nations around the world as its members and aims to broaden exchanges between higher education institutions of the member countries in the fields of ▲ language and communication, ▲ economic development, ▲ improvement of science technologies, ▲ and education. Our university was approved as an official member at the board of directors’ meeting held on November 30.

AUF membership of our school can be seen as an extension of Korea’s diplomatic activities. In 2016, Korea subscribed as an observer of Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (hereinafter “OIF”) for the first time in East Asia, which has been evaluated as the foundation toward broadening our diplomatic horizon with 84 Francophonie nations including the African regions. Based on amicable relationship with Francophonie nations, our university continued systematic exchanges and collaboration with AUF members and was able to maintain a leading position in international exchanges with French-speaking nations.

Since the 2000s, our university maintained exchanges with Francophonie nations such as France and Senegal. Through partnership with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, our university served as a bridge between nations by jointly holding French Cultural Policy Forum, Korea-Africa Forum, Korea-France Forum, etc. In addition, we led the nongovernmental diplomacy by granting honorary doctorates to the President of Cote d＇Ivoire Alassane Ouattara, Former French Minister for Culture Fleur Pellerin, and Former President of Senegal Abdoulaye Wade. By jointly conducing KF Global e-School with universities in Senegal, France, Vietnam, India, and Brazil, we have been introducing Korean economic developments and culture with Francophonie nations as well as broadening the educational opportunities through annual exchanges of student language and culture with the prestigious university ISM (graduate school of business) in Senegal.

Our AUF membership is expected to provide us with the opportunity to not only conduct our own international exchanges as mentioned above, but also participate in active exchanges among AUF member universities’ students, faculty, and researchers as well as sharing technologies and data on education and research in French.

Professor Moon Si-yeon from the Department of French Language and Literature said, “Because AUF encourages gender equality especially in the areas of research and provides privileges to educational projects with women subject in principle, I am looking forward to an active participation from our university, which boasts a long history as a women’s university,” and “Furthermore, because AUF has interests in expanding the employment of member institutions, this will be a good opportunity for our students to advance into French-speaking nations.”