Incheon National University on Tuesday launched the College of Law, Commerce and Public Affairs, which encompasses various disciplines in its humanities program.

According to officials, the integrated college would provide education covering economics, trade, law, political science and international studies, along with administration. The INU said it aims to offer students what it called “integrated globalization” education.

The idea for the college began in 2014, after the Education Ministry selected the INU for its University for Creative Korea project. The government-subsidy CK project is centered on aiding universities across countries to develop their specialties, which in INU’s case, is global education.

Since then, the university has commenced creating a cross-discipline education program it calls the “Global Excellence Program,” with 20 professors from departments of law, economics, international trade, political science and international studies, as well as public administration.

In keeping with the Park Geun-hye administration’s education policy to foster individuals with skills custom fit to meet demands of society, its programs have stressed coordination of the university with corporations. It said it benchmarked Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Groningen and Windesheim University of Applied Sciences in Netherlands in designing programs that foster graduates with cross-discipline knowledge.

English and creative writing are included, along with respective “integrated” majors of each student, who will be given opportunities to go abroad for an exchange student or internship program.

“Through launching the College of Law, Commerce and Public Affairs, (the INU) will foster talent that will roam in international workplaces,” said the university’s president Choi Sung-eul.

Lee Chan-keun, a professor from INU’s division of international trade who also heads the GEP, said INU will cooperate with universities from the Netherlands, Germany, the U.S., China and Indonesia.

INU said that launching the new college is in keeping with the government policy to propel Songdo International City -- where the university is based -- as the hub of its “global knowledge service.” Knowledge services refer to providing content-based -- for example data or information -- organizational outputs to meet external user wants or needs.

Songdo International City, based in Incheon Free Economic Zone, has become home to industries related to information technology and biotechnology, along with education and medicine. It hosts branches of 13 international organizations, including Green Climate Fund and the World Bank.

The inaugural ceremony for the College of Law, Commerce and Public Affairs took place at the INU campus in Songdo, Incheon, and was attended by 200 guests from inside and outside the country. The list included Education Vice Minister Lee Young, Dutch ambassador to South Korea Lody Embrechts, delegates from Hanze University, Windesheim University and Shanghai University of International Business and Economics and IFEZ commissioner Lee Young-geun.


By Yoon Min-sik
(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)