MU president wishes to increase partnership with Northwest

University of Missouri President Dr. Mun Choi visited Northwest Missouri State University for the first time August 3 and later met with community members during a reception at the county administration building.

University of Missouri President Dr. Mun Choi visits with former state representative Mike Thomson during a meet and greet event August 3.

“I wanted to learn more about Northwest Missouri. I knew there was a terrific university here and I wanted to come explore options for partnerships,” Choi stated.

Choi toured the NW campus and met with officials to discuss future partnerships between the schools. Currently, the schools partner to provide students easier access to earning a doctorate of education, allowing students to take classes at either school that count toward the degree. Choi stated he would like to see the partnerships increase to include programs in agriculture, biology, health and sciences, medical and nursing degrees.

He is also working to reduce the cost of higher education for students by reducing textbook costs. He stated the average student spends approximately $1,200 a year in textbooks. He is advocating for open source textbooks, textbooks that may be uploaded to a website and shared.

Choi offers incentives to his faculty to encourage them to use textbooks found on openstax.edu as well as to publish the books they author on the web source. He hopes to open communications with Northwest to allow for the sharing of textbooks across campuses.