Stories from Asia reflect decades of serving students on the move

Taiko drummers perform at t 糖心logo入口 in Asia鈥檚 homecoming gala in Tokyo on October 17, 2026.

鈥淥ur students move. That is the life of a military learner,鈥 said University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) president Gregory W. Fowler, PhD, in remarks to about 250 alumni, faculty, partners, and community members at t 糖心logo入口鈥檚 2026 Asia 70th Anniversary Gala.听

Held October 17, 2026, at The New Sanno Hotel in Tokyo, Japan, the gala was one of several hosted by UMGC this month.听

Learners 鈥渕ight start with us in Korea, transfer to Japan, and finish in Germany or Maryland. When that happens, we haven鈥檛 lost a student. They鈥檝e just had a change of address,鈥 said Fowler.

For seven decades, adapting to the realities of military life has shaped UMGC鈥檚 presence in Asia and its approach to serving learners around the world.听

For UMGC in Asia students, classrooms are often military installations. Guam site lead Francis Flores briefed the Air Force 554th Red Horse Squadron about educational opportunities with UMGC in August 2025 at Andersen Air Force Base.

Seventy years ago, in September 1956, UMGC opened classes at military education centers in Japan, Okinawa, and Korea, expanding work begun seven years earlier in Europe.听

Servicemembers embraced the opportunity, with more than 1,700 signing up for courses that first term. Today, more than 250,000 learners have taken classes through UMGC in Asia, earning nearly 29,000 degrees and certificates.听

For 70 years, UMGC has maintained a continuous presence serving military-connected learners across Asia, with locations including Japan, Okinawa, South Korea, and Guam.

Meeting students wherever they served

鈥淲e followed students into Vietnam, where books were sometimes airdropped from helicopters,鈥 said Fowler in a message to staff. 鈥淲hen Mt. Pinatubo erupted and military bases closed in the Philippines, we packed up and relocated to Singapore.鈥

鈥淚n May 2023, when Super Typhoon Mawar knocked out power and internet across Guam for weeks, our team adapted, keeping students on track while caring for colleagues whose homes and families had been affected,鈥 he said.

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UMGC leaders, past and present, participate in Kagami Biraki, a traditional Japanese ceremony to mark festive occasions.

鈥淚n each case, we chose to stay,鈥 said Fowler. 鈥淭hose choices, repeated across seven decades, helped build the capability we have today to operate across cultures and time zones, despite disruption.鈥

The examples reflect a recurring challenge for military learners: education must remain accessible even as circumstances change.

鈥淵ou can name it. UMGC has been there,鈥 said Major General Lloyd "Milo" Miles (U.S. Army, Ret.) in a 70th-anniversary video released October 15, 2026 (view the video below). Miles served as UMGC鈥檚 senior vice president of global military operations from 2015 to 2025.听

Image Still for Video: University of Maryland Global Campus in Asia: 70 Years of Transforming Lives Through Education

October 2026 Video: UMGC in Asia
70 Years of Transforming Lives Through Education

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Panoramic image of Joseph Arden, PhD, addressing the crowd at the homecoming gala in Tokyo. Arden started with UMGC in 1967 as an overseas professor and went on to lead programs in both Asia and Europe.

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In 2026, UMGC marked 70 years in Asia, celebrating a legacy of serving U.S. military-connected learners in the Pacific and the people and experiences that helped shape the university鈥檚 global mission. Read some of their stories.