It is 7,120 miles across the Pacific Ocean from Athens, Georgia, to Seoul, South Korea. For the past five years, UGA students have traveled to Seoul to learn about local government in the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. The most recent group of graduate and undergraduate students made the trip this past summer. The UGA School of Public and International Affairs has a memorandum of understanding with the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the University of Seoul. Each year, eight to 10 UGA students join other students from other universities for “Case Study: Policy Management in Seoul.” “This is very typical of how progressive Seoul is; they are using this arrangement as an opportunity to market the city globally to the future city and state managers,” said Rob Christensen, an associate professor of public administration in SPIA and the instructor for the 2014 case study in May. “Seoul is always interested in learning and is changing so quickly. This is just one of those touch points where it can both learn and share its own vision.”

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