SMLC Seminar
Global Talent: Foreign Students in Korea as Transnational Bridges

Dr. Joon Nak Choi
Hong Kong University of Sciences and Technology

Date: 24 Sept, 2015 (Thursday)
Time: 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm
Venue: Room 4.36, Run Run Shaw Tower, Centennial Campus, HKU

Abstract:
It is no secret that transnational connections provide tremendous economic benefits to "settler societies" such as the United States. How such transnational connections might be developed and leveraged by other societies characterized by strong ethnic identities, however, remains more of a mystery. Indeed, societies like Japan, Germany and Korea have had more difficulty integrating and assimilating foreigners. In this seminar, I will discuss how such societies can leverage skilled foreigners as bridges back to their countries of origin, even if they cannot fully integrate or assimilate these foreigners. I will specifically focus on foreign students in the Korean context as investigated in my recent co-authored book, Global Talent: Skilled Labor as Social Capital in Korea (2015, Stanford University Press).

Bio:
Prior to HKUST, Prof. Choi was the William Perry Postdoctoral Fellow at the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University, where he researched the social capital linking Korean corporations to key overseas markets. His co-authored monograph on this subject, Global Talent: Skilled Labor as Social Capital in Korea, has recently been published by Stanford University Press. Prof. Choi's ongoing research continues to focus upon the effects of social and political capital, especially in Korea and China.