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Ewha Hosts Harvard Model Congress Asia 2023 with Harvard University Students
The “Harvard Model Congress Asia (HMCA) 2023” was held at Ewha from January 7 (Sat) to 9 (Mon), 2023. The HMCA, which has been held annually in Asia since 2004, is an international English debate competition. The contestants take on the role of committees, such as the United States Congress, the United Nations International Court of Justice, and international organizations to discuss various issues including international relations and diplomatic issues. The “HMCA 2023” was attended by around 30 students each from Harvard and Ewha as the co-hosts of the event, as well as 370 outstanding high school students from Asia. The delegations, which consisted of 14 teams including the United States Congress, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, G-20, the World Health Organization, and the UNICEF, engaged in presentation and discussion sessions on current issues in various fields, such as security, international relations, migrants, energy, the climate crisis, and disaster response, over the course of three days. Through the contest, which was held for the first time at Ewha, Ewha students gained a deep understanding of diplomatic relations, leadership, and experience of an international debate competition by taking the role of a delegation representing the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and participating in topical discussions. In addition, the students who assisted hosting the event as supporters alongside Harvard students gained hands-on experience on the organization of an international conference and expanded their networks through global exchanges. Ewha student Eom Tae-ri (Division of English Language & Literature, incoming class of 2020), who participated as a member of the Ewha delegation, remarked, “It was great to attend the HMCA, where I learned and studied lots of new things by discussing common topics with Ewha and Harvard students.” Kyle Felter, who represented Harvard University, also expressed high satisfaction by stating, “The HMCA delegation, staff, and participating faculty members are deeply grateful to Ewha for making this event successful beyond expectations, as it took place in a face-to-face format for the first time since the outbreak of COVID-19.” Inhan Kim, Vice President of the Office of International Affairs, remarked, “Ewha supported the organization of the competition with the aim to enhance its global status and provide students with the opportunity to experience English-language debates and global exchanges as representatives of Korea,” and added, “Going forward, Ewha will endeavor to offer various opportunities for students to gain global experiences on campus.” Ewha is the sole global partner selected by Harvard University among domestic universities, and its partnership with Harvard has lasted over 15 years. Through the “Ewha-Harvard Summer School,” the largest Asia exchange program for Harvard undergraduates that has been held annually since 2006, “Ewha-Harvard College in Asia Program (HCAP),” a conference held alternately between Seoul and Boston since 2007, and the HMCA this year, Ewhaians are broadening their perspectives toward the world and experiencing global leadership by interacting with outstanding global talents from various backgrounds.
Ewha Leads Startup Culture
In line with Ewha’s endeavor to serve as “A Creative and Innovative Platform Leading to a Sustainable Society” through creative research and educational innovation based on the “Ewha Vision 2030+” development strategy, the Office of Research and the Ewha University-Industry Collaboration Foundation (EUICF) is consolidating its efforts to establish a creative research ecosystem, by enhancing the value of the university’s research and technologies through industry-academy-research collaboration and innovative growth. Ewha expands and reorganizes the “Support Corps for Business Startups” to provide customized support for startups throughout the education, support, and incubation phases Ewha reorganized the Business Incubator under the EUICF and expanded it into the “Support Corps for Business Startups (SCBS),” with the aim to increase the efficiency of startup support and promote the startup culture on campus. Recently, “technology commercialization” has become a buzzword in the startup market. Laboratory business startups, which are focused on technical capabilities based on tangible research achievements and patents, are producing outstanding outcomes in terms of job creation and corporate viability compared to idea-based business startups. In line with this trend, the SCBS, which has been expanded and reorganized this year, will respond more effectively to existing and future demand for startups and need for startup support, enhance customized support for startups throughout each phase of education, support, and incubation, and establish a collaborative system for identifying internal, external startup institutions and technology-based startups and supporting their technology commercialization. Meanwhile, Ewha is providing systematic education on business startups through various programs including curricular and extracurricular courses and leading the expansion of the campus startup culture. Ewha has offered courses on entrepreneurship and business startups, and endeavored to establish startup-related courses to keep up with the increasing significance of related education and achievements at universities. As a result, the number of courses on business startups rose from 29 in 2021 to 60 in 2022, with a total of 2,561 students enrolled, recording a significant year-to-year increase. In addition, Ewha is responding quickly to changing trends, by establishing the “AI Convergence Startup Track” as part of a new 2022 TELOS Track system, with the aim to foster entrepreneurship and startup capabilities based on AI technologies. The rapid growth in the participation rate of various extracurricular courses in addition to the regular curriculum was also a notable accomplishment. Ewha aims to expand startup infrastructure following its selection for various projects Since its selection as a member of “Korean I-Corps” program by the Ministry of Science and ICT in May 2021, Ewha has actively supported laboratory business startups by leveraging public research outcomes, and operated various programs specialized for women, such as a mentor group comprised of female startup experts, education for technology startups, phased commercialization support, and a female technology forum for business startups. Through various support activities for the enhancement of youth business startup capabilities, Ewha received the highest S-grade from the “2022 Business Incubator Management Evaluation” by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, thereby earning recognition for its institutional and project management performance. In particular, with Ewha’s selection for the “Integrated Seoul Campus Town Project,” the SCBS’s capabilities in identifying and cultivating outstanding startups are expected to play a major role in helping the school grow into a hub for youth startup clusters in northwestern Seoul. Robust startup achievements by students and faculty members contribute to expanding startup culture As Ewha’s control tower for startup support, the SCBS has expanded startup education, industry-academia collaboration, and startup infrastructure, while also providing systematic support for the commercialization of outstanding technologies, with the aim to support startups based on Ewha-specific university-industry collaboration. As a result, startups launched by faculty members and students are gradually beginning to bear fruit. VasThera Co, Ltd., a startup founded by Professor Sang Won Kang of the Department of Life Sciences, successfully attracted 18 billion KRW in investments thanks to the development of a new drug for the treatment of vascular diseases and reaffirmed its potential by receiving the Minister of SMEs and Startups Award for the “deep-tech” startup category. Meanwhile, startups by Ewha students are also producing meaningful outcomes by attracting investments. For example, teams comprised of Ewha students won the first prize, excellence prize, and participation prize at the “2022 Industry-Academia Collaboration EXPO,” which was hosted by the Ministry of Education and the National Research Foundation of Korea. This is the result of Ewha’s active support to nurture laboratory business startups by leveraging public research outcomes under the Korean I-Corps program.
![[The 19th Kim Okgill Memorial Lecture] Beyond Realism: Narrative and Environmental Futures ◆Date: March 29th (Wed) 4~6pm ◆Place: ECC building B4 floor Lee San Bong Hall ◆Inquiry: Ewha Institute for Humanities (02-3277-6596) #Kim_Okgill #memorial_lecture #beyondrealism 이미지](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FsL2bCYaUAAhXah.jpg)
