JBNU signed an official agreement on the 14th with Kazakh National Agrarian University, Kazakhstan's first agriculture-specialized university, to strengthen international education and research cooperation and expand personnel exchanges.

President Yang O-bong and Akhylbek Kajigulovich Kurishbayev, Chairman and President of Kazakh National Agrarian University, met at JBNU's Seoul Office at 3 p.m. that day. They established a strategic cooperative framework between the two universities and exchanged a memorandum of understanding for mid- to long-term joint development.

The agreement is significant as a rapid follow-up to President Yang's October 7 visit during the Chuseok holiday period to major Central Asian universities to expand the foundation for international cooperation. During that visit, President Yang met with Kazakh National Agrarian University to discuss concrete cooperation measures such as strengthening student exchange programs, expanding collaborative research, and jointly planning educational programs. The discussions were formalized within a week through the signing of the agreement.

Under the agreement, the two universities will activate exchanges of experts, including faculty and researchers, and operate joint programs that link education and research as well as pursue academic collaborative research. In particular, at the graduate level they plan to promote research internships and joint projects so that master's and doctoral students can gain experience at overseas research institutions and in industry. They will also promote sharing academic materials and exchanging scientific and technological information to disseminate research outcomes and strengthen an international collaborative research network.

The areas of cooperation will expand from common research bases such as agriculture, biological resources, and veterinary medicine to include engineering and technology, natural sciences, mathematics and statistics, social sciences, and digital technologies. This is expected to establish a comprehensive international cooperation model that encompasses education, research, and industry.

In particular, by promoting exchanges of research internships and professional training, a foundation will be created for students and researchers to travel between the two universities and participate in research activities. JBNU expects this to give further momentum to realizing the Glocal University 30 core strategy of attracting 5,000 international students and to building a global research hub.

President Yang O-bong said, 'Kazakhstan has very high strategic growth potential in agriculture, energy, and biological resources. If the two universities extend their cooperation beyond education and research to include industry and technological innovation, they can develop an international cooperation model that creates future value.'