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This study investigates the current practices of internationalization at three private universities in Korea. It seeks to describe how and why the universities began internationalizing their campuses, and what strategies and programs they have implemented based on the role of presidential leadership. In analyzing the leader´s role in implementing strategies, the study employs two theoretical frameworks. First, the leadership orientation is analyzed thorough Bolman and Deal´s (2003). Second, the study adopted Knight´s (2007) institutional level strategies for internationalization at the universities. While Knight (2007) described presidential leadership under governance, the findings from the cases suggest adding the leadership as a separate strategy in the Korean context. The study recommends that a university can be transformed or developed so long as the appropriate leadership has been placed into the organization. Building a strong culture at the university is dependent on how long the president can lead the organization and whether the president started the strategy during the university´s nascent stages or initiated them in the middle stages of its history.

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Yonghwan Bang holds a Ed.D. from University of Southern California with nine-year career in the U.S.Higher Education institutions with particular expertise in international education development. Currently, Dr. Bang is a research professor at Ewha Womans University in Korea for establishing MSW program at Royal University of Phnom Penh,Cambodia.

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