Asia's Largest International Winter University Program Starts

Korea University’s International Winter Campus (IWC) maintains its reputation as the best international winter university program in Korea due to an excellent international faculty and various cultural experience sessions.

On December 26, the three-week credit course and the one-week cultural experience course began.

The entrance ceremony for Asia’s largest international winter university program, which began on December 26, 2022, and will end on January 13, 2023, was held at Korea University's Inchon Memorial Hall auditorium.

Korea University’s International Winter Campus (IWC) program, which was launched in 2016 with about 300 students, has steadily increased annually in its number of participants, becoming the largest short-term international education program in Korea. In 2022, the IWC maintained its reputation as the largest program in Korea, with more than 820 applicants from 128 universities in 28 countries, including Hong Kong, Singapore, France, Brazil, the United States, and Australia.

Professors from leading overseas universities such as the University of Nottingham in the UK, California State University in the US, and the University of Sydney in Australia, as well as full-time professors at Korea University, provide lectures in English. The IWC boasts the highest rate of lectures by foreign professors compared to competing universities.

Courses in various fields, such as business administration, economics, humanities, science, and Korean language, are offered by the IWC. Students who complete certain courses related to Korean studies are eligible to receive a microdegree and digital badge in the field of “Korean Culture and Society.” Science and engineering courses reflecting the latest technology trends, such as artificial intelligence and big data, are also offered. The IWC is the only global short-term education program in Korea to provide graduate-level classes, such as Data Analysis with R, and many students are enrolling in these classes.

▲ Professor Edward Monsour (California State University, LA) teaching Principles of Financial Accounting at the IWC

▲ Professor Mark Davison (Brunel University, London) teaching Sustainability Strategies at the IWC 

The main feature of this year's program is blended courses, in which offline and online students can take classes at the same time. In the blended courses, all classes are being conducted in the state-of-the-art NeMo (networked modular) classrooms in Korea University's SK Future Hall.

▲Students taking the IWC's Introduction to Psychology class in the state-of-the-art NeMo (networked modular) classroom in the SK Future Hall 


▲ Students taking the IWC calculus class in the NeMo classroom in the SK Future Hall

The IWC held a pre-departure orientation using SKT’s ifland, a metaverse platform, providing about 160 overseas students from around 20 countries with a chance to communicate with one another in virtual space, raising their satisfaction and interest in the program. The IWC plans to use the metaverse as a learning space in the future.

▲ The IWC offered a pre-departure orientation to participating students on a metaverse platform.

In addition to credit courses taught by excellent faculty, IWC students can participate in cultural experience sessions of their choice, such as taekwondo lessons, Korean rice cake soup and pajeon making, K-Pop dance lessons, Gyeongbokgung Palace and Blue House tours, Namsan Seoul N Tower tours, and traditional market tours during one week of the program.

▲Students taking the IWC’s Korean language class

▲ Vice President for International Affairs Lee Hi-kyoung giving a congratulatory speech at the IWC entrance ceremony

Vice President for International Affairs Lee Hi-kyoung said, “We are delighted to be able to meet university students from all over the world face-to-face or online through the IWC program that Korea University has been working hard to prepare. We will further innovate and improve IWC, the best international short-term education program in Asia, so that Korea University can lead the internationalization of educational content.”