A K-wave hits campus as Korea University rethinks student life for a global generation

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A K-wave hits campus as Korea University rethinks student life for a global generation

Published: 10 Jun. 2025, 17:24 Updated: 10 Jun. 2025, 17:35

LEE TAE-HEE
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Kim Dong-one, the 21st president of Korea University [KOREA UNIVERSITY]

From creating an entertainment division exclusively for international students to inviting students and faculty from the United States as a visa crisis looms, Korea University aims to globalize and establish itself as a renowned institution internationally.

Korea University created the new Division of Global Entertainment under its College of Media & Communication this spring semester, accepting its inaugural class.

The division aims to teach international students about Korea's entertainment industry while emphasizing practical learning that would help students land careers in the field.

It delves into business-related areas, including PR strategies, intellectual property laws applicable in the field and AI usage. Classes about entertainment entrepreneurship and special lectures are also offered to help students who want to establish their own businesses and meet industry professionals.

"We emphasize hands-on training because classroom lectures alone are not meaningful when teaching about the entertainment industry," said Kim Dong-one, president of Korea University. "Experts who are actively working in the field come to talk to our students, and the students also go out into the field to experience a lot of things."

As the university prepares to welcome more international students, it plans to build a new international student dormitory by 2028. To offer more visa and career consultations, the university hired more consultants who can speak English and Chinese. This year was also the first time a booth for international students was set up at the university's job fair.

Korea University is also opening doors to students and faculty in the United States who want to study and teach elsewhere following the Trump administration's attempts to prevent Harvard University from enrolling international students.

Although the federal court blocked the decision, anxiety still remains. Korea University plans to create transfer programs for Harvard and other U.S. university students and also welcome faculty teaching at those universities.

"I went to the United States around a month ago and met with our alumni and Korean professors who teach there," said President Kim. "They are extremely concerned and ask whether Korea University is willing to hire faculty, to which I respond that we are not only willing, but eager to welcome talented scholars."

Amid efforts to become global and strengthen education, the university hopes to rank within the top 30 of a global university ranking by 2030. It currently places 67th in the World University Rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) in 2025.

The Korea JoongAng Daily sat down with President Kim to discuss Korea University's globalization plans and its new division for international students.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Students watch performances during the International Student Festival held on May 13. [NEWS1]

Korea University plans to rank within the top 30 of a global university ranking by 2030. How does the university plan on achieving that?

Korea University placed 67th [in the QS World University Rankings for 2025]. But since ranking organizations like QS and Times Higher Education (THE) use data from the previous four years or so, this year's ranking reflects our past four-year performance. It usually takes about five years for the results to truly show, and if you look at our current research output, we've already reached around 30th to 40th place globally. Our efforts will become visible in about three to four years, and we're confident we'll be within the global top 30 by around 2029.

We also established performance indicators across all aspects of university operations, including education, research and student support, to monitor progress and share effective ones. We restructured the Social Contribution Center into the KU Institute for Sustainability to build a sustainable university management system, and the JEDI Sustainability Committee actively works on innovating education, research and management. We've been renovating student facilities and will also host international events with QS and THE, strengthening our global education and research.

Korea University opened the Division of Global Entertainment, which only admits international students, in March. How did the division come about?

At our College of Media & Communication, we had more international students than Korean students. Media studies used to be focused on newspapers or broadcasts, but the focus has now shifted to the entertainment field. We had so many international students who wanted to learn about K-drama, Korean culture, K-pop, how Korean content is created and relevant business models. Interest in those fields is growing, so we created the Division of Global Entertainment to foster talent with a global perspective and practical expertise in the field.

Although the Division of Global Entertainment is new, it is a popular choice for students. What about the division makes it appealing?

International students are interested in Hallyu, but there's actually not that high of an interest when universities open courses about Korean culture. That's because many want to learn about Hallyu as a hobby, rather than study it. However, there are students who want to study the business side of the entertainment industry, the content production process and the Korean language. Our Division of Global Entertainment developed courses in those fields, and students have been showing a lot of interest because of that.

Also, at some universities, departments for international students sometimes only allow students to take classes among international students. But that's not the case for us. We have cross-listed courses that allow international students to take classes with Korean students and mingle.

Korea University President Kim Dong-one announces plans to make the campus more global on Sept. 10, 2024. [KOREA UNIVERSITY]

As universities welcome more international students, it's also important to create necessary support measures. What kind of support does Korea University offer for international students?

I personally lead a globalization task force meeting every other week. We listed things we needed to do to support international students, and one of them was making sure all official announcements are issued in Korean and English, which we did. Another thing we changed was having all signs on campus in Korean and English. We've also introduced a halal menu to our cafeteria and we operate three prayer rooms. Every time we hold the meeting, we invite one international student and a foreign faculty member to listen to their concerns. Hearing those experiences helps us identify what we need to work on right away.

We also have an AI subtitle system that automatically generates subtitles in different languages when a lecture is given in Korean. The infrastructure is already in place, and we’ve started using it. The translation accuracy is about 98 percent, so international students are pleased with it. Even though many of them understand Korean fairly well, having subtitles helps them understand more clearly. We started AI translations as a pilot program at the College of Media & Communication, expanded it to the Business School, and plan to introduce it to more classrooms.

We also had international students who wanted to join student clubs, but weren’t able to. When meeting with the student club association, they said clubs are reluctant to let exchange students join since they only stay for around six months and return home. But I pointed out that it's the same situation when our own students go for exchange semesters abroad. It would also be good to have international students, as our students will work in a global environment in the future. We now have more clubs open to international students compared to before. The editor-in-chief of our English newspaper is also an international student, and there's an international student in our university cheerleading squad.

Korea University has a lot of international students and has been creating support programs. But it is also a university implementing a high tuition increase for international students, raising it by 9 percent this year. How can the university justify this in a way that resonates with students?

In the United States, in-state and out-of-state tuition can differ by as much as three times. At our university, we charge international students about 10 to 20 percent more than Korean students, and there are some universities that charge up to 30 percent more. One of the reasons why many international students come to Korea is because Korean universities have cheap tuition — even cheaper than that of private universities in Japan. Our tuition is so low that even some Ivy League universities in the United States hesitate to sign memoranda of understanding with us. Because our tuition is so cheap, they initially assume that we’re offering low-quality education.

I once talked to international students, and they said they attended universities in the United States but have never seen anything like this — where world leaders or Nobel laureates come to give lectures every month or two. We also spend a significant amount on major events like the Korea-Yonsei Games, Daedongjae and Ipselenti.

Thomas Christian Sudhof, who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2013, gives a lecture to Korea University students on May 22. [KOREA UNIVERSITY]

Amid the legal battle between Harvard University and the Trump administration, Korea University recently announced it will create transfer programs for students at U.S. universities that wish to study at Korea University and also welcome overseas faculty. What was the reason behind the decision, especially opening the opportunity to not just Harvard members?

It's not just Harvard University students. International students at universities in the United States are all feeling anxious. Many wonder whether they should go to their home countries or elsewhere now rather than be forced to leave when their F visa expires. The same goes for assistant professors on H visas and postdocs.

Our program will include not only talented students at Harvard, but also those enrolled in Ivy League and major state universities in the United States. If they choose to study at our university, we will actively support them with housing and scholarships. Students studying abroad are very talented. In many cases, even top students in Korea choose to study overseas for their graduate programs, so if they return, it would be a great benefit to Korea.

When you say talented faculty and students, is there a certain field of research or studies the university is looking for?

Those who have strong research publication records or have received a large amount of research funding in important fields like AI or big data will, of course, be considered with the highest priority. Talented students will also be given priority, such as those with good grade point averages.

President's bio

Kim Dong-one is the 21st president of Korea University, with his four-year term set to last until February 2027. On campus, he served as a professor at Korea University's Business School since 2004 and took on the role of the Vice President for Planning and Budget between 2011 and 2012. Kim later served as the dean of the university's Business School and Graduate School of Business Administration between 2014 and 2016.

Outside campus, he served as the president of the Korea Labor and Employment Relations Association between 2014 and 2015 and president of the International Labor and Employment Relations Association between 2015 and 2018.

Kim earned his bachelor's in business administration at Korea University and a master's and Ph.D. in management and human resources at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

About the university

Name of university
Korea University

Type
Private

Established
May 5, 1909

English slogan
WE ARE THE NEXT

Location
Seongbuk District, northern Seoul

Campus size
946,177 square meters (233.8 acres)

Undergraduate colleges and departments (2025)
Colleges: 19
Schools and departments: 70

Graduate schools (2025)
22

Students (2024)
Undergraduates: 21,029
Postgraduates: 38,452
Total: 59,481

Academic staff (2025)
4,514

Administrative staff (2025)
1,180

Employment rate (2024)
70.4 percent

English website
https://www.korea.edu/sites/en/

International students
Number of students (2025)
Undergraduates: 2,928
Postgraduates: 900
Short-term students (language learning, exchange program): 807
Total: 4,635

By country (2025)
China 52.5 percent
Mongolia 6.7 percent
Malaysia 4.4 percent
Other 36.4 percent

Social media
Instagram: @kuoia_outbound @kuisc.iwc @koreauniv_kuba_official
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@koreauniv

BY LEE TAE-HEE [[email protected]]