Auburn University receives International Partnerships award for Innovation in International Education

Auburn University has been recognized for its efforts to create cross-cultural opportunities with the prestigious Andrew Heiskell Award for Innovation in International Education as a result of a partnership with Keimyung University in South Korea.

In light of Auburn's unique position between two major South Korean automotive manufacturers, their supply chains and the related expatriate Korean community, Auburn and Keimyung entered into a partnership in 2012 to create a Korea Center on the Auburn campus. The center provides language instruction as well as numerous academic and cultural events that expose the faculty, student body and community to customs, language, food, music, martial arts, film and traditional performances from Korea. The Korea Center was subsequently named a Korean government-sponsored King Sejong Institute.

"Auburn has endeavored to integrate the local and Korean communities both on and off campus," said Auburn President Jay Gogue. "Through strong partnerships with top Korean Universities and automotive manufacturers, Auburn has developed innovative strategies to benefit education, industry and local government."

The relationship has resulted in additional funding for campus research and academic programs from corporate and government sources and has led to internship possibilities for both American and Korean students. A faculty-grants program helps faculty develop collaborative teaching, research and study abroad programs with Korean colleagues.

"Auburn's partnership with Keimyung University has created opportunities on both sides of the globe," said Andrew Gillespie, assistant provost for international programs. "Our faculty members learn from each other and work together. Our community members better understand each other. And our students are better prepared for careers in an internationalized world."

IIE's Heiskell Awards showcase the most innovative and successful models for internationalizing the campus, study abroad and international partnership programs in practice today. The IIE Heiskell Awards honor U.S. and higher-education institutions around the world that demonstrate outstanding best practices and innovation in international education programming, with a focus on those that address a specific need, remove institutional barriers and broaden the base of participation in international teaching and learning on campus.

IIE will present the awards at a ceremony in New York City on March 20 as part of its annual Best Practices in Internationalization Conference for campus professionals. Nearly 200 campus leaders and international education professionals attend this conference each year.

Visit IIE's Best Practices Resource for in-depth profiles of the 2015 Heiskell Award winners and more than 100 initiatives that have been recognized since the first awards in 2002.