MANILA, Philippines -- Top universities in Cebu and nearby provinces will be sending students to Kwangwoon University, one of the best engineering schools in South Korea.

Kwangwoon will grant scholarships to 10 universities for undergraduate and graduate degrees, according to Bonifacio Belen, executive director of the Cebu Education and Development Foundation for Information and Technology (CEDF-IT).

Dr. Sang-Chul Lee, Kwangwoon University's president, signed a memorandum of agreement with CEDF-IT during his recent visit to the Philippine Open Source Summit held in Cebu.

Kwangwoon, located in the capital city of Seoul, is recognized as one of the best schools when it comes to electrical engineering and ICT, according to Belen.

"Mr. Lee used to be Korea's ICT minister and is quite an important person in the industry there," Belen said via telephone interview with INQUIRER.net.

The 10 schools include Cebu-based University of San Carlos, Southwestern University, University of the Visayas and University of San Jose-Recoletos.

Also receiving scholarship grants are Silliman University (Dumaguete), West Negros University (Bacolod) and Bohol University.

"We are looking at expanding the program further to accommodate other schools in the region," Belen said.

On the other hand, Kwangwoon will be sending professors to these schools to teach courses on advanced technologies such as RFID, Belen said.

Belen, however, cannot specify yet how many Filipino students will be sent to Kwangwoon. He is scheduled to fly to Seoul in two weeks to discuss further details of the partnership. Also, he mentioned talks with the Korea IT Cooperation Agency for further grants.

"Kwangwoon has given scholarship grants to other countries in the region. China has sent 500 students to study there," Belen said. "It somehow ties up with South Korea's goal of becoming global."

CEDF-IT is a consortium representing the government, private sector and the academe in Cebu. It previously attempted a similar exchange program with Bangalore in India but things didn't push through due to a number of factors, according to Belen.

"If the model works this time, we can replicate it with other countries," he said.