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The University of Aberdeen has reached agreement with local authorities in South Korea to open the first British branch campus in the nation.

The campus, to be located in Hadong, a town in South Gyeongsang Province, close to the nation¡¯s south coast, is billed by Aberdeen as offering postgraduate training, research and consultancy services for the international offshore oil and gas industry.

The campus, given the green light by South Korea¡¯s education ministry in August last year, is scheduled to open in autumn 2017, the .

The campus will start off by recruiting students wishing to enter an initial one-year graduate course in petroleum engineering, it added.

¡°The agreement came after a nine-member delegation from the two municipalities in South Korea's southern area made a five-day trip to the Scottish school beginning 15 March for talks with officials of the renowned university on the launch of the campus,¡± said Yonhap.

Aberdeen ¡°had originally set sights on the South Korean campus's opening in September last year, but it has been delayed due to financial and other outstanding issues¡±, it added.

The aim of the South Gyeongsang provincial government is to make the campus part of its plans to make the area a centre of expertise in offshore engineering.

john.morgan@timeshighereducation.com