KU Exchange Programs Set Educational Pace
By Bernard Henrie
KU is going international.
In addition to receiving more foreign students here, the University is sending greater numbers of KU students abroad.
KU has direct exchanges with 14 colleges and universities overseas, which make it one of the leaders in this area.
"The ideal arrangement is one in which there is a complete exchange of ideas and social patterns, a well organized system of cultural cross fertilization." Chancellor W. Clarke Wescoe said recently.
ALFRED V. BOERNER, director of the State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, paid tribute to the KU exchange program, calling it a "happy blending of university, private foundation, and United States government resources."
While Lawrence students are placed at a number of different Universities, KU's greatest efforts have been in cooperation with the University of Costa Rica.
John Gardner, president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, contributed $100,000 to the KU program, which he referred to as "an extremely interesting experiment."
The International Institute of Education has said that if 10 reputable institutions in the United States were assisted financially and encouraged to seek similar relationships, the impact on higher education in Latin America, as well as in the United States, would be impressive.
WHAT KIND of things has this international education led to?
- It has prompted 27 Kansans in Lawrence to crowd around a short-wave radio to hear distant, static-ridden election returns in Spanish from San Jose. Costa Rica.
- In San Jose it brought out the University of Costa Rica chorus to serenade Chancellor Wescoe on a recent visit with his wife.
- A girl from Marysville has begun visiting prisons and doing other social work throughout Costa Rica.
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- And another girl from Missouri was nominated for a beauty queen contest at Costa Rica U.
SOME KU FACULTY members have become so deeply committed to the program that they have invested money in Costa Rican industries. One alumnus who started a thriving paint and plastics industry in San Jose recruited a plant manager from the KU faculty and hopes to interest students and graduates in summer and full-time employment.
A faculty exchange program, financed by the Carnegie Corporation, took the deans of KU's college of liberal arts and school of business and six professors to Costa Rica in August 1960, and the group returned for a three month stay the following summer.
FROM COSTA RICA have come four young instructors, sponsored by the International Cooperation Administration, to work toward Ph.D. degrees here.
The University of Kansas has also played host to Costa Rica's ex-President Jose Figueres, the Costa Rican school's assistant dean of science and letters, its dean of economic sciences, and many other Costa Rican officials and citizens.
Other Latin American institutions are interested in the possibilities of similar agreements with American universities and Panama University has said it prefers an agreement with KU.
KU STUDENTS who maintained a "B" average or better through 16 hours of college Spanish and pass a special course in the fundamentals of Costa Rican geography, history and literature, with stress on pronunciation, are allowed to participate in the Junior Year Abroad program with Costa Rica.
The students also receive a four-day orientation at the Foreign Service Institute in Washington. D.C., and then they journey on to Costa Rica. They arrive several weeks before classes start to allow them time to get acquainted and settled in their new Costa Rican homes.
THE STUDENTS attend regular courses during the academic year, beginning in March and ending in November. Cost approximate those at KU and all academic credits are transferred to KU.
Most important, the students are not permit to cluster together. Each one is housed in a different Costa Rican home and is kept busy with a project designed to channel his special interests into areas outside the university.
New Students Say They Like KU
KU's reputation as a good school, its active social life, and its international atmosphere are a few of the reasons given by new students for coming here.
Some, of course, land at KU by accident.
Fritz Gysin, Switzerland graduate student, is one of the latter. He is on an Institute of International Education scholarship, and the IIE selected KU for him.
Hannington Pamba, Kenya graduate student, said, "My advisers at Tabor College (at Hillsboro, Kam.) recommended KU for my graduate study when I graduated last year.
Thailand graduate student Kovit Yeam-Ot was disappointed by Kansas' frosty weather which he assumed would be similar to tropical Thai weather. He said, "I came here because I wanted to live in the 'heart' of the United States."
Mansur Mady, Saudi Arabia, sophomore, studied English and speech at the University of Texas in Austin last year. The International office at UT recommended that he attend KU. "KU is a difficult school, but I learned the essentials of getting along in a few weeks," he said.
Ramesh Gandhi, Bombay, India junior, had been admitted to the University of Utah at Salt Lake City, but decided to study at KU because it was less expensive. He said he also found a better international atmosphere at KU.
Robert Howard, freshman, Pullman, Mich., said, "I was stationed at Olathe, Kan., and the Marine Corps recommended KU. Besides, I heard KU had an active social life and I like Kansas weather so I decided to study here."
LONG WAY HOME — Fritz Gysin, Swiss-American student from Basel Switzerland, points out Lawrence on the topographical map of KU in the Museum of Natural History. Fritz came to KU as part of the Institute of International Education program. KU was chosen by the Institute as the University which Fritz would attend.
Friday, Nov. 9. 1962
University Daily Kansan
P-T-P IN SEATTLE—Reuben McCornack, Abilene junior, visits with Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy at the Seattle World's Fair this summer. McCornack worked at the People-to-People booth at the Fair.
World's Fair Visit Called 'Delightful'
By Trudy Meserve
Take four foreign students from four different countries.
Add three KU American students Sprinkle heavily with People-to- People.
Pour the mixture into the Seattle World's Fair, and you have a recipe for what one foreign student termed a "delightful and educational" summer.
National People-to-People sent Reuben McCornack, Abilen junior; Young Chull Kim, Seoul, Korea; senior; Pedro Bonot, Huesca, Spain, graduate student; Walter Bgya, Tangyika, Africa, sophomore; and Raja Naib, Jhelum, Pakistan, graduate student, to the Fair to tell Seattle residents and World's Fair visitors of the organization.
Bruce Bee, class of '62, and James Dillingham, Salina junior, also lived with the group, but worked elsewhere at the Fair.
But for the seven, the summer was more than a time for informing others about the P-t-P program.
The seven lived and worked together 24 hours a day for about three months trying to promote international understanding not only to visitors at the P-t-P Fair exhibit, but also among themselves.
"I returned to school this year with a slight foreign accent, although from which country I cannot tell." McCornack said. "Occasionally I catch myself eating European style, and now I always drink tea with cream and sugar."
"The international atmosphere prevailed in our house," Kim said. "You could smell curry powder in the house one night, soy sauce the next evening and fried chicken the following evening."
"We didn't resolve anything, but each of us listened and tried to understand others' attitudes."
The seven rented a three-story house for the summer and shared such household responsibilities as cooking and cleaning.
"We discussed cultural, social and political problems." McCormack said. "It was enlightening to get the views of persons from other countries on subjects from dating to discrimination.
The men held frequent group discussions.
Bonet said there was conflict yet cooperation in the group.
The seven commended Seattle residents for their hospitality.
"Not everything was perfect," he said. "We had our individual and group problems, but we also had tremendous cooperation in solving them."
"We were invited to so many dinners and parties that it was impossible to attend all of them." McCornack said. "Finally we decided to take turns going to social events."
One Seattle woman who learned Bgoya lost his electric guitar enroute to Seattle promptly bought another one for him.
We used no machines and no gadgets in our display. Our strategy was simply people talking to other people about the organization. Foreign and American visitors heard about People-to-People from foreign and American students." McCormaack said.
"Not too many people knew about P-t-P when they first came to the Fair, but most knew about the program when they left," Kim said.
McCornack said about 5,000 P-t-P memberships were received by the Kansas City headquarters at the close of the summer.
McCornack said the Fair board financed the land area for the P-t-P exhibit. He said he thought the P-t-P exhibit was the only one to receive such financial aid.
Besides telling of P-t-P, foreign students were interpreters and Fair guides for other foreign visitors.
The students also initiated an "International Music Hour," presented 10 times in an amphitheater on the Fair grounds. The program centered around Kim, the emcee, who told about incidents which happened to him since his arrival in America. Bgoya played his guitar and sang.
A vocal group of Korean choreo and singers from the University of Madrid and the Seattle area provided the other entertainment.
"About 2.000 people packed the amphitheater for each performance," McCornack said.
"The success is not in the money we made," Kim said. "The success is in our contacts with people from all different areas of this country and with people from other countries."
Kim said he is contacting people in the Orient to establish a P-t-P program there.