FIT satellite campus sews up a fall opening

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FIT satellite campus sews up a fall opening

The globally renowned Fashion Institute of Technology will open its local campus inside the Incheon Global Campus in September. Once open, it will be FIT’s only global campus in Asia.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy approved the establishment of FIT in a committee meeting held on Tuesday.

One of the 64 New York state institutions of higher education established in 1944, FIT is renowned for its study of fashion-related industries with alumni that includes designers Calvin Klein and Michael Kors. Quacquarelli Symonds, a U.K.-based evaluation firm for education, named it one of the top fashion schools in the world.

Officially named SUNY Korea FIT, the satellite campus will provide two-year undergraduate courses for two majors: fashion design and fashion business management. A total of 70 freshmen - 20 in fashion design and 50 in fashion business - will be accepted for the first semester. The yearly tuition will be about 27 million won ($23,906) - similar to the costs at foreign universities in the Incheon Free Economic Zone. The courses and sessions will mirror New York’s. FIT’s Incheon campus is expected to take up 74,760 square meters. Since 2013, FIT has held a two-week summer program at SUNY Korea.

“FIT becoming a part of the Incheon Global Campus is a big step, not only for Korea’s fashion industry, but also for IFEZ to elevate the level and spectrum of education offered here, which will attract more foreign companies and investors to the district,” said Her Nam-yong, director general for the Free Economic Zone Planning Office under the Trade Ministry.

The Incheon Global Campus is part of the Incheon Free Economic Zone in Songdo that was established under the initiative to encourage cooperation between business and academia. Since 2012, the district has attracted local campuses of western schools such as SUNY, George Mason University and the University of Utah. More than 1,300 students studied on the Incheon Global Campus in the fall semester.

FIT’s final approval to open a local branch in Incheon is the result of a five-year process. In June, FIT submitted an official document to the Ministry of Education requesting to establish a curriculum at the Incheon Global Campus.


BY SONG KYOUNG-SON [song.kyoungson@joongang.co.kr]
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