A bilateral meeting of representatives of Slovak and Korean universities was organized by the Ministry of Education, Research, Development and Youth of the Slovak Republic (MŠVVaM SR) on 11 July 2024 at the Bôrik Hotel in Bratislava. The invitation to the conference was accepted by 19 Slovak universities and the Slovak Academy of Sciences, including the Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice (UPJŠ) and 13 universities from South Korea. The aim of the conference, hosted by the State Secretaries of the Ministry of Education Róbert Zsembera and Ján Hrinko, was to create a space for establishing various international partnerships and academic cooperation between Slovakia and the Republic of Korea. The importance of the conference was declared not only by the high attendance of more than 60 representatives of Slovak and Korean universities, but also by the participation of distinguished guests: the President of the Slovak Rectors’ Conference Vladimír Hiadlovský, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Slovak Republic to the Republic of Korea H. E. Marek Repovský, the President of the Slovak Academy of Sciences Pavol Šajgalík, the First Minister Counsellor of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Slovakia Byungjun Kim and the First Secretary of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Slovakia Jong Suk Yoon.
After the official opening of the conference, the program continued with a presentation of Slovak higher education (presented by the Director General of the Higher Education Section, Marcel Vysocký), the presentation of international science and research cooperation (presentation by the Director of the European and International Science Policy Department, Tomáš Tabiš) and an introduction of higher education in South Korea. Professor Eun Ju Park Ph.D. from Kyungnam University presented the Korean industrial-academic cooperation project and the Korean LINC 3.0 project. The meeting concluded with a networking session between representatives of Slovak and Korean universities. On behalf of UPJŠ the meeting was attended by Vice-Rector for International Relations, professor Slávka Tomaščíková, PhD. “The discussion focused on the field of science, especially biomedical research, teacher education, lifelong learning, history, psychology or languages.”
Representatives of Korean universities acknowledged the world-class potential of Slovak educational institutions and confirmed their interest in cooperation in the field of research and development. They also called Slovakia a strong investment partner. Presentation of Slovak universities to foreign partners, establishment of cooperation and development of international partnerships contributes to increasing the interest of talented students, teachers, and researchers from abroad in studying, teaching or scientific research activities at Slovak universities.
