Seoul National University (SNU) announced on Thursday that it has plans to build a branch learning center in Los Angeles or San Francisco, in the western United States, where there are large numbers of Koreans.

“The facilitywill be a place where overseas Koreans and students can take Korean studies courses or where SNU students can go and work as interns or to take classes from professors in the region,” said SNU planning director Kim Hyeong-jun. “We are midway through the study phase and expect that the location, size and character of the facility will be determined by the end of this year.”

Kim said that it had also been suggested that SNU set up a similar program in China or Vietnam. “But the plan is to expand only after we have one operating properly.”

Earlier, at a press conference held on July 1, on the occasion of his first year as SNU president, Dr. Lee Jang-mu said that the university’s plans for establishing an overseas learning center in Los Angeles were meant “to give SNU students more opportunities for international education.” Lee also said that the school is considering the construction of an “international campus” in Korea, in Siheung, Paju, Gwacheon, Pocheon, or Yangju, all of which are in Gyeonggi Province.

SNU is said to be modeling its concept of an overseas learning center on a program created by the National University of Singapore, which has 40 overseas colleges in places like Silicon Valley, to promote the exchange of people and technology.

SNU official Nam Ik-hyeon said the planned L.A. facility would be a small building that would play the role of base camp in order to make SNU more international, recruit foreign students to SNU and help Korean students get ahead overseas.