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Present and Future of Korean Studies in Romania

Photo-Edgar Solano Muñoz
Kwak Donghun
Professor at Babes-Bolyai University
Korean Studies in Romania has started in the mid-1990s, but it was in its beginning and superficial stages till the early 2000s. That is, it is not much to say that Korean studies in Romania has originated from simple and impulsive scholarly ambition. However, over the past decade, Korea’s various cultural content, such as Korean TV drama series, films, and K-Pop have provided a significant turning point and Korean studies enjoys a quantum leap. This trend led the increase in numbers and activities of Korean Wave fans and the students of Koreans studies in Romania, and there were a few universities which has the Korean studies program, and they welcome a new change in quality and in quantity. The early direction of the studies focused on pure language study, now it expands and progresses in various fields such as history, literatures and North Korean studies. Currently, Korean Studies in Romania go beyond its take-off stage, and now is in the development stage that needs to seek more specific and efficiently educational strategy.

Korean language education in Romania had its earliest beginning at the mid-1990s. In the early stage, Korean language courses, a non-credit course, was not in the official curriculum, but was one of various liberal arts courses for language-major students who were interested in Korea. About 1995, after the University of Craiova has opened the first Korean language course in Romania with the support of KOICA, Babes-Bolyai University, the number one national university, has opened a Korean language course since October 1997, also with the support of KOICA. However, KOICA discontinued its support in Romania in 2002, the two universities had to close Korean language courses. University of Bucharest, located in Bucharest, Romania’s capital, has opened a Korean language course as an elective program for foreign language with the support of the Korea Foundation, or KF in 1996. Until 2005, there were three Korean language courses, which were elective courses, and that is the third language course (or also called language C). The course has three different proficiency levels: basic, intermediate and high. In 2005, it has been promoted as a minor department (as a second language or language B).

University of Bucharest opened Korean literatures program for undergraduates for the first time in the country, but unfortunately, it still remained as a minor department. At the moment, Bebes-Bolyai University, located in Cluj-Napoca city, is the only institution that has Korean literature program for undergraduates other than the University of Bucharest, the Korea Foundation has deployed a lecturer in 2005, helped to re-open Korean language courses, and “Korean literature program” has been officially approved by the Ministry of Education of the Romanian government in 2008, and has been promoted as a major department. Currently, Bebes-Bolyai University is the institution that provides the most effective education related to Korean studies in Romania. Every year, there is an increase in student size who applies for the Korean literature major. The university provides various courses such as Chinese characters, society and history of North Korea, also proceeds active exchange programs between universities including ‘ERASMUS’ and ‘CEEPUS’. These various programs provide distinctive opportunities for students. Furthermore, the institution is hosting a number of events, such as “International Korean Specking Contest”, “International Korean Studies Workshop’, and “Field trip to Korean companies in Romania” and these efforts make a great contribution to the development and promotion of the department. At the same time, these efforts make student take a pride in majoring in Korean literature.

In 2005, a master degree program has opened for East Asian Studies in the Department of Oriental Studies, in the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures in the University of Bucharest. Even though it is not an independent MA course of Korean studies, but the University of Bucharest is the only higher educational institution where students can get a MA degree related to Korean studies in Romania.

Regarding Korean studies in Romania, it is right time to pursue researches in Korean studies in a more comprehensive manner further than Korean language education. Scholars in Korean studies must take various approaches that encourage active researches on Korea per se. Korean Studies in Romania, I believe, should be developed in the direction of “area studies” in the future. Within the framework of area studies, or convergence studies, which is based on interdisciplinary network of various department researches, the scholars of Korean studies must plan, research, train and make results of Korean studies, so it will pave the way for the continuous development of the studies. When it comes to more effective Korean language education, it is urgent to write and publish excellent Korean language teaching material. It won’t hurt to use materials that are published in Korea, but what is more desirable is that language materials are produced by an educator who has a teaching experience in Romania. For the effective progress of Korean Studies, various teaching materials are required to be produced in Romanian and to be published. This will be meaningful for an individual educator’s scholastic achievement, but this issue should be regarded as one of significant goals in the department.

Most undergraduate students want to pursue in-depth studies in the grad school when they finish undergraduate program. With such a trend, it is required to open MA course related to Korean studies in Bebes-Bolyai University. At the moment, it probably has a long way to go to establish an independent master degree program of Korean Studies right away, but maybe there is a lesson to learn from the case of University of Bucharest. I believe there will not be much a problem if Bebes-Bolyai University set up graduate studies courses with the joint efforts of Chinese literature and Japanese literature programs in the Department of Asian Languages and Literatures. It will be obvious that it will make a large contribution towards the continuous development of the department and the base expansion of Korean studies, if the graduate programs for Korean studies are set up Graduate school program within Bebes-Bolyai University. This will serve as a big engine for the growth of Korean studies in quality and in quantity.

Lastly, it is required for a number of organizations in Korea to provide support and attention in order to make a continuous and qualitative development in Korean studies in Romania for now. Of course, the precondition is that universities and institutions in Romania should make many efforts to make a progress in Korean studies. I look forward to the concrete progress on Korean studies in Romania far more than that of Chinese and Japanese studies, also wish Korean studies develop more definitive position in the international community.


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