With the help of our two international KS Seed projects since Jan. 2018, we continuously offered and wonderfully taught a large number of KS courses with high course enrolment. The strong academic popularity of these courses also resonates with the quickly-growing popularity of K-pop, K-cinema, and K-food around the word.

From Jan. 2018 to June 2024, most of these course have been funded externally by Dr. Chung’s KS Seed Program grants (many thanks to KSPS, the AKS, Korea):

• 1012 Introduction to Korean I (online; c-listed with ML 1012; 100–105 students enrolled in fall 2023 and fall 2024)
• 1022 Korean II (online; c-listed…ML 1022; 30 in winter 2021)
• 2101 Korean Civilization (100 in winter 2024)
• 2201 Korean Culture and Society (53 students in 2023; 130 in fall 2024)
• 2301 Introduction to Korean Religions (c-listed as RS 2301; 100 inwinter 2024)
• 2401 Digital Media and Pop-culture in South Korea (online; 130 in fall 2023, 2024)
• 2090 Modern Korean Politics and International Relations (60 in summer 2023)
• 3101 Modern Korean History (c-listed as Hist 3090; 70 in fall 2024)
• 3201 Korean Arts: Traditional and Modern (60in winter 2024)
• 3301 Korean Cinema and Drama

Individual enrolment numbers in these KS courses have tripled, quadrupled, or increased five times over the past several years. It is quite stunning to note that the AST program’s total enrollment number, including two other AST courses: 2020 (East Asia) and 1011 (Japanese I), was bout 100-110 ten years ago, but this number has recently increased five times to 520-530 in 2022-20224 with new KS courses that are mostly funded externally by Dr. Chung’s KS Seed Project grant. Its estimated that enrolment for 2023-2024 is 660-680: six times more than ten years ago! This a huge program growth with the absolutely highest enrolment increase among all Arts (and possibly all UPEI faculty and school) departments and programs. Accordingly, this justifies and empowers the Korean or AST program to transform itself into a Major degree program in the coming years.

UPEI is delivering the AST and KS program very successfully and cost-effectively with such a huge increase in enrolment. Like booming “K-pop” (e.g., BTS), “K-food,” and “K-drama” around the world, our KS courses are having a huge increase in academic interest and popularity among a quickly growing number of students with intellectual, racial, and multicultural diversity at UPEI.

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