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네이버 공유 카카오 공유 트위터 공유 페이스북 공유

Korean Studies at Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main

Korean Studies at Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main (Frankfurt University), within the Institute for Oriental and East Asian Studies (Institut für Orientalische und Ostasiatiche Philologien), is one of the key areas of study that make up the Interdisciplinary Centre for East Asian Studies (Interdisziplinäres Zentrum für Ostasienstudien - IZO).

IZO was set up in 2005 in response to the University’s strategic plans to strengthen its regional focus on East Asia, and in conjunction with this, Korean Studies was established as a new area of studies within the centre. In 2007, the University appointed Dr. Hae-soon Kim to coordinate the new Korean Studies study programme, while the Korea Foundation has since provided regular support, including the dispatch of three consecutive visiting professors, to enable the University to offer a diverse selection of Korean Studies courses.

The University has since been committed to expanding and strengthening Korean Studies at Frankfurt, which has been evidenced by its decision to a Junior Professorship in Korean Studies. Consequently, I joined the University as a Junior Professor and Director of Korean Studies in April 2010. The Korea Foundation has also continued to render its invaluable support by providing funding to enable the University to appoint Dr. Hanna Schunka as a part-time Korean Language teacher in April 2010. Then, in May 2010, the Foundation designated Dr. Yon-son Ahn as the third Korea Foundation visiting professor at Frankfurt University. We also continue to benefit from having Dr. Hans-Jürgen Zaborowski as a part-time lecturer, and as a result, Frankfurt’s Korean Studies now boasts a wide and varied selection of courses in Korean language, literature, history, religion, society, politics, and culture.
We are therefore now in a position to begin a long-term strategic planning process to further enhance and expand our provision of Korea-related studies. Currently, Korean Studies is offered within the Faculty of Linguistics, Cultural and Civilization Studies and Art Studies, as both a minor (Nebenfach) within the BA in Empirical Linguistics programme, and as a focus subject for students taking Empirical Linguistics as their minor. In the short term, our aim is to offer Korean Studies as a free-standing minor for any students who are interested in Korean Studies, without the empirical linguistics element. At the postgraduate level, Korean Studies courses will be offered as part of IZO’s new MA/PhD programme in Modern East Asian Studies from the next academic year. In the long term, and as Korean Studies is further consolidated within the University, we hope to be in a position to offer a full BA degree course in Korean Studies.



Our vision for Korean Studies at Frankfurt University is to build a holistic curriculum that allows our students to graduate with both solid language skills and a wide knowledge base of Korean culture, history, and society. We seek to do this by making a positive difference to the experience of learners through varied teaching and learning methods, and by allowing for a degree of flexibility for students to explore avenues of personal interest, which will encourage a simple enjoyment of and passion for the subject content. In addition to encouraging students to engage in further postgraduate study in Korea-related subjects, we are also very focused on enhancing graduate employability, and are particularly keen to ensure that our students graduate with a high degree of cultural awareness that will undoubtedly contribute to a wider understanding of Korean society and culture in Europe and beyond. To this end, we seek to embed employability in the curriculum through real-world, relevant, and practical learning activities, and we intend to work in partnership with external organizations to provide learning opportunities to fulfill these critical ives.
In particular, we will actively seek to engage and work with external stakeholders, such as Korean businesses based in Frankfurt and the surrounding area, and European enterprises with investment interests in Korea, as well as with other relevant agencies to provide our students with real-life learning opportunities. We will also build on our existing partnerships with Korean universities – Korea University, Ewha Womans University, and Chung-Ang University – in order to facilitate student and staff exchanges in the years to come. In addition to developing excellence in learning and teaching, we also strive to become a hub for cutting-edge research in Korea-related subjects, particularly in regard to cultural studies.
To further facilitate this, we will endeavor to build on our existing links with other institutions and disciplinary networks in order to strengthen and promote Korean Studies in wider academic contexts. Our focus remains, however, very much on our students and on attracting increasing numbers to study Korea-related topics. And with the marked and continuing support from both the University and the Korea Foundation, we see a further expansion of Korean Studies at Frankfurt University as a very realistic prospect indeed.

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