BAGUIO CITY – Officials of three universities from South Korea, China and the Philippines led the launching of the Asian Cultural Education Center (ACEC) in this city on Wednesday(May 25).
University of the Cordilleras(UC) President Ray Dean Salvosa, South Korea’s Chonbuk National University President Lee NamHo and China’s Ludong University Vice President Shen Dong first planted a pine tree sapling at the Burnham Park in front of the UC main building as a symbol of their unity and for the success of the ACEC.
The university heads were assisted in the planting by officials of the City Environment and Parks Management Office who is in-charge of the Burnham Park.
The officials also watered the tree sapling using water which came from their respective countries particularly from Jeonju City in South Korea, Yantai City in China and from Baguio City.
The official launching of the ACEC followed at the UC where the heads of the universities signed a memorandum of agreement for the establishment of the education center with UC as its base. They also inaugurated the ACEC at the ninth floor of the new building of UC and unveiled a marker.
ACEC is a tripartite program of the three universities which aims to educate Asian students to discover and learn about the culture and traditions of other countries.
The partnership aims to support for the active international exchange of faculty and students of the three universities. It will also support cultural exchange of each country and language education for training prospective students who can lead balanced development of the Asia region. Likewise, to provide study-career connected opportunity to each country.
The agreement also stressed that the universities are the foundation of sustainable and balanced development of Asia, and the faculty of each country will hold regular-base conference to practice such agreement instantly.
Salvosa said that the partnership will not only benefit the UC who will learn from the rich culture and tradition of China and Korea, but the two universities will also benefit from the culture and tradition of the Philippines particularly the Cordilleras where the university is named after.
The partnership is the first of its kind but they are looking into expanding the program with the other universities in the city and the Philippines and the other Asian countries as well./JDP/RMC with J. Orines & B. Cabusi-PIA CAR/ UCU Interns
