SEOUL, KOREA — The Korea Foundation (KF) opened an e-school at the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary on April 10 to offer courses on Koreanology focusing on the Korean economy and society.

Class lectures are held at the Central European University and online video lectures will also be offered in real time to a total of ten European universities in six countries including the University of Bologna in Italy, the University of Paris Diderot (Paris 7) in France, and three universities in Central Asia. 

In order to diffuse Koreanology, the KF has run the e-school project since last year, offering courses on Korean social sciences overseas. Lectures are held at a selected hub university on each continent, and also offered online to participating universities on the same continent. For the curriculum of the course, Professor Matteo Fumagalli and Assistant Professor Kim Young-mi at the Central European University played a key role along with professors of Korean studies from 13 universities throughout Eurasia. 

"European countries, especially in East Europe, are deeply interested in the democratic and economic development of Korea, yet the current lectures in universities in those countries are biased to the Korean history, culture, and the language," an official from the KF said. The KF established the e-school program in order to offer lectures on different aspects of Korea such as the development of Korean society and the economy.

The lectures are held for twelve weeks each semester. One of the subjects for the spring semester this year at the Central European University is "Introduction to Korean Politics and Policy." 

The e-school program has already been conducted in Asia and Central and South America since 2011. Students in universities including the National Autonomous University of Mexico and the National University of La Plata in Argentina have studied Koreanology online thanks to the e-school program established at UCLA in the U.S.