Ahn Byong-man

Ahn Byong-man (born February 8, 1941) is a South Korean academic, and the former President of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. He received his bachelor's and master's degrees from the Seoul National University in 1964 and 1967, and went on to the University of Florida for doctoral studies, graduating in 1973. In 1975 he joined the faculty of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, South Korea. While at this institution he served as the Dean of Student Affairs, Dean of the Graduate School, and in 1994 he was named president. He served in this capacity until 2004.

In this Korean name, the family name is Ahn.
Ahn Byong-man
President of
Hankuk University of Foreign Studies
In office
1994–2004
Succeeded byPark Chul
Personal details
Born (1941-02-08) February 8, 1941
Seoul, South Korea
Alma materUniversity of Florida
Seoul National University
Korean name
Hangul
안병만
Hanja
Revised RomanizationAn Byeong-man
McCune–ReischauerAn Pyŏngman

Ahn was a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence at the University of Delaware, and received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from the University of Delaware in 2004.[1] He was also a visiting professor at the university. He also received a University of Florida Distinguished Alumnus Award in May 2005.[2]

A non-party politician, he served as Minister for Education, Science and Technology in the Lee Myung-bak government from 6 August 2008 until 30 August 2010. During his tenure, he pushed through an ambitious reform of English-as-a-foreign-language education in South Korea to reduce the reliance on hagwon in teaching the language.[3] One of the first steps he took in this regard was to begin the development of a new English proficiency test modeled on Japan's STEP Eiken test, the National English Ability Test, with the aim of replacing the TOEIC and TOEFL for domestic purposes such as university admissions and job candidate selection.[4] Around the same time, he also requested the resignations of seven senior officials in the Ministry.[5]

References
  1. Hutchinson, Becca (2005). "Korean university president visits UD". University of Delaware, USA. Retrieved March 29, 2011.
  2. "UF Distinguished Alumnus Byong Man Ahn Lectures About North Korea March 23". University of Florida, USA. March 22, 2006. Archived from the original on June 7, 2011. Retrieved March 29, 2011.
  3. "Can Ahn's English Education Overhaul Succeed?". Korea Times. 2010-01-11. Retrieved 2013-12-19.
  4. "Korean Version of TOEFL to Debut". Korea Times. 2008-12-11. Retrieved 2013-12-19.
  5. "High-ranking Education, Tax Officials Tender Resignations". Dong-A Ilbo. 2008-12-17. Retrieved 2013-12-19.


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