Subscribe
E-Paper
 |
| University students view an online course with a smartphon and tablet PC. / Korea Times file |
Korean nationals and expats will be able to take courses from some of the country's most prestigious universities later this year.
Ten schools, including Seoul National University and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) will offer 27 courses from September, the Ministry of Education said Thursday.
The system referred to as MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), enables the public to access courses created by renowned scholars and participate in Q&A sessions, assignments and debates.
This way of learning has become popular at universities in the U.S., U.K., France and China. Coursera, launched in April 2012 by professors at Stanford University's computer science department offers 839 courses from 114 institutions and has around 10 million users.
Other schools in Korea's list of 10 include Yonsei, Korea, Ewha Womans and Hanyang Universities. The schools will offer courses ranging from economics, literature, Oriental studies, quantum mechanics, and architecture to genetics. The services will be offered in Korean, with English subtitles provided.
The schools and courses were selected from 48 universities that applied to the program.
The education ministry is investing a total of 1 billion won, with 100 million won provided to each of the schools, while universities will collectively invest 2 million won in the program.
"The high level of interest from universities will become a solid foundation for the successful launch of the Korean version of MOOC," a ministry official said.
