Brief Introduction:
Korea National Open University (KNOU) was founded in 1972 with its headquarters on University Road, Seoul. KNOU has developed from its initial status as a two-year tertiary education institution to a state-run distance education university focusing on four-year undergraduate education.
It also incorporates postgraduate education and is now regarded as an important base of lifelong education in Korea. KNOU is authorized to grant diplomas, bachelor’s degrees and master’s degrees. KNOU is composed of four undergraduate colleges – the School of Humanities, the School of Social Science, the School of Natural Science and the School of Education– and 22 undergraduate departments. In 2001, KNOU set up its own postgraduate school with all courses taught online. KNOU has set up 17 postgraduate departments based on its undergraduate departments. It has also established a number of non-degree education courses and a self-study examination centre responsible for granting bachelor’s degrees to self-study students. KNOU currently has 470,000 graduates and more than 170,000 currently enrolled students. More than 100,000 students apply for entrance every year.
Cooperation with the OUC：
The Open University of China (OUC), Korea National Open University (KNOU), and the Open University of Japan (OUJ) launched the first session of KNOU-OUC-OUJ International Seminar in 2009.
On August 29 2014, a group of three delegates from Korea National Open University (KNOU) headed by Cho Namchul, president of KNOU, visited the Open University of China (OUC). Yang Zhijian, president of the OUC and Zhang Shaogang, vice president of the OUC participated in the meeting.
Cho Namchul said that through this visit he witnessed the achievements made by the OUC in recent years, and that the development of the OUC was amazing. Cho Namchul further expressed his hope to have the chance to dispatch full-time teaching and research staff to the OUC to conduct an on-site inspection. He also proposed to implement scholar exchange programmes by reference to that of Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) to carry out personnel exchanges and cooperation research projects between the two universities. Yang Zhijian applauded President Cho Namchul’s proposal, and on behalf of the OUC, Mr. Yang confirmed the partnership with KNOU again. Yang Zhijian pointed out that both sides should take full advantage of the opportunity of friendly cooperation between the two countries created by their national leaders, make a breakthrough in the existing level of cooperation between the two universities, and promote cooperation in the field of distance education in all aspects.
From 11-15 October 2016, the KNOU hosted the 6th KNOU-OUC-OUJ International Seminar. An OUC delegation of five people headed by then OUC president Yang Zhijian attended the seminar. After the seminar, Yang Zhijian signed a cooperative memorandum with KNOU’s acting president, Prof. Kim Oi-Sook, on behalf of the OUC.
During the seminar, the delegation headed by Yang Zhijian also visited KNOU’s headquarters and study centres in Seoul. They made a special visit to inspect KNOU’s Digital Media Centre. They found the KNOU to have great advantages in video teaching application, and their experience with educating through television, network videos, virtual studios, and video conferencing systems greatly enlightened us.
