President Thomas C. Hudnut spent a week of the summer in the Republic of Korea visiting various schools and speaking at one of them.

The Hankuk Academy of Foreign Studies, where Hudnut spoke, is one of the most prestigious schools in Korea. Students can receive a high school education in a multitude of languages including English, Chinese, Japanese and German.

It is located in Yongin City, which is outside of Seoul. Most alumni of the Hanuk Academy attend four-year colleges, which is important when applying to foreign universities.




“I was tremendously impressed with the language abilities shown at the [Hankuk Academy], where students receive most of their instruction in the target language, not the way we teach Spanish one period a day,” Hudnut said.

The implementation of a program resembling this at Harvard-Westlake is unlikely due to the logistical problems involved, Hudnut said. However, Hudnut suggested that a partnership with various foreign schools or an expansion of the study abroad program would accomplish the same purpose.

“I spoke about admission to American colleges, which is a subject of intense interest [there],” Hudnut said. “I visited an English section, and all the kids were interested in going to college in the United States.”

Hudnut and his wife were the personal guests of Harvard-Westlake trustee Jae Min Chang ‘68. An alumnus himself, Chang is the the publisher of the Korea Times USA, as well as the father of two Harvard-Westlake grads, Nicholas ’96 and Michael ’98.

There was a strong interest in Korea for Harvard-Westlake to help to set up a school there, Hudnut said. However, the idea was not met with much support among the Board of Trustees.

“The Board of Trustees understandably doesn’t want to franchise the Harvard-Westlake name and thereby diminish the quality of our product, so we would have to see under what form, if any, our participation in such a venture would occur,” Hudnut said.

When he wasn’t visiting schools, Hudnut and his wife Deedie toured South Korea, visiting various landmarks in the area.