KU Insights

In March 2025, Korea University launched the Division of Global Entertainment Studies within its College of Media. This major explores Korea's entertainment industry—including K-pop, K-dramas, film, webtoons, games, and sports—from the perspective of business, culture, technology, and content creation.

Exclusively designed for international students, this program aims to provide comprehensive education covering everything from content production to industry structure, management, and strategy, blending the Korean context with an international perspective. The undergraduate program's vision is clear: to develop global media architects who are capable of designing global entertainment media ecosystems.

Korean Culture Evolves Beyond Content to Become a Career Path

The idea to establish the Division of Global Entertainment Studies was conceived in response to the rapid growth of the international student population. Several years ago, Dean Lee Sun-kyung noticed a growing demand among international students on campus for new educational programs related to Korean culture. What began as curiosity about Korean culture has now expanded into a range of career and academic possibilities.

“There are students who applied to the College of Media through the special admissions program for international students. When I asked them why they applied here, over 80% said it was out of curiosity about the Korean culture they discovered through K-pop, K-dramas, or K-movies. As the number of applicants grew, I started thinking about creating a dedicated program for international students.”

The result was a task force team comprising faculty members associated with film, video, and cultural studies who spent about a year designing the curriculum before welcoming the first set of freshmen in March 2025. “We deliberated for a long time, but the actual curriculum development and approval process moved very quickly in 2024. That's why we were able to officially launch this program last March.”

Evolving from a Viewer to a Designer

Dean Lee Sun-kyung explains that this major focuses on cultivating talent capable of skillfully handling planning, production, interpretation, and networking within a changing industrial landscape. “The entertainment industry encompasses a wide range of fields, including music, film, games, comics, and even personal media. As technology and AI advance, individuals now have access to more tools than ever before. This makes the ability to generate good ideas, creativity, critical thinking skills, and the capacity to interpret cultural trends even more crucial.”

Students in this program initially take foundational major courses within the College of Media curriculum, gradually shifting their focus toward the entertainment field as they advance through their studies. For this reason, the program offers a diverse range of courses in emerging content areas like webtoons, games, and sports, as well as AI-based production subjects. “We've introduced many new courses, such as video production utilizing AI, and subjects like webtoons, games, and sports.”

“The vision of the Division of Global Entertainment Studies is to cultivate talent equipped with creativity, critical thinking skills, and the ability to interpret cultural trends. ” – Professor Lee Sun-kyung

Curriculum for Developing Core Competencies in the AI Era

The lectures by Professor Kim Jeong-hwan, who has taught various courses since the Division's inception, are characterized by their active collaboration with industry experts and the strong emphasis on practical relevance. In the course Understanding the Global Entertainment Industry, students conduct team projects with Naver Webtoon. In AI Content Production, they collaborate with the Seoul Viewer Media Center to create AI music videos. Both courses represent attempts to cultivate practical skills directly applicable to the industry.

It wasn't that students were drawn to technology from the start. It took considerable effort to convince them why they should learn AI. The hands-on experience, however, changed their attitude. “Students who initially questioned why they needed to learn AI all said by the end of the semester that AI had become their creative partner.”

“I am working with my students to contemplate and imagine the future of the entertainment industry, continuing our joyful experiments.” – Professor Kim Jeong-hwan

While talking about technological issues like AI and virtual idols, he points to communication skills as a capability that will become increasingly important going forward. “It seems that communication skills are the ultimate factor in partnerships with industry stakeholders. Understanding the local culture is essential, but Korean language proficiency is also crucial for collaborating with internal members, and a keen sense for reading the dynamics of fan communities is vital. The ability to discern what is required in specific relationships will become increasingly important.”

Our dream is to become the next generation of global media architects.

Seven international students

Renchen Dorj Hasbataar (Mongolia):

I originally dreamed of becoming a film director. Back then, I only focused on the artistic side of cinema, but now I see it alongside society, culture, audiences, and even politics. I'm learning that entertainment is one massive ecosystem.

Daira Sawa (Japan):

“Because it's a newly established program, I get to experience new learning opportunities and make lots of new connections. Being able to communicate closely with professors is a huge advantage. Someday, I'd like to create content about my hometown, Okinawa.”

Trần Lê Linh Phương (Vietnam):

"Here, I stepped away from the perspective of the viewer and truly experienced the process of creation for the first time.”

Praiya Komarachunn (Thailand):

“In the AI Content Production course, I learned firsthand how ideas become actual content. That experience made me want to study content creation and technology in more detail.”

Enkhsuyd (Mongolia):

“I hope more people come here with big aspirations, going beyond just enjoying Korean culture.”

Wang Jaecheong(China):

“In the Creative Media Planning and e-x-p-r-e-s-s-i-o-n course, I learned both theory and practice, developing a perspective on the entertainment industry from a cultural studies standpoint.”

Qin Yifeng (China):

“I've come to realize that different cultural backgrounds and perspectives themselves can be an asset. I'd like to become a professional who bridges diverse markets, including Korea and China, and coordinates planning and strategy.”