hankyoreh

By Lee Choong-sin　　
　　
Seoul National University will open up Japan-related undergraduate programs for the first time since its establishment.
“The proposal on establishing Asian Language and Civilization Studies that includes Japanese studies under the Department of Liberal Arts was approved at the dean committee. We will begin recruiting students for the department for the first semester of next year,” said a SNU official.
SNU has kept the Japanese studies from entering into one of its bachelor degree programs since its establishment in 1946 mainly because its Japanese counterpart, Tokyo University, has lacked Korea-related majors programs in its degree offering.
“By opening Japanese studies at the Liberal Arts College, we plan to enhance our efforts to study Japan-related academies that have lacked of its due attention for long,” said an official at the nation’s top university.
In line with the school’s project to widen its scope of regional studies in efforts to go beyond Western-centered programs that SNU has long concentrated on, the nation’s top university also plans to establish Indonesian, Indian, Arab studies.
The school plans to admit five students for Japanese and Arab studies, respectively, starting next year. For Indian and Indonesian studies, however, SNU will admit students starting in 2013.
The faculty of Asian Language and Civilization Studies will involve academies on culture and history as well as languages and civilization of the four countries included in the programs.
“The school will be able to provide a wide range of Asian regional studies by offering the newly-initiated undergraduate programs, going beyond the European-centered programs to balance the academic endeavor,” said Dean of the Liberal Arts College Byun Chang-goo. We will focus on the Asian language and civilization studies as the name of the faculty suggests.“
The approved proposal on establishing the faculty of ALCS needs to get a final yes/grant from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, which is highly likely, after going through its advisory council.
(Translated by Kang Jin-kyu, Intern)　
　　
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