> Introducing new KSIF ventures for 2023

For KSIF, last year was a special year during which the foundation celebrated its 10th anniversary and prepared for another successful 10 years. The foundation saw some meaningful results from the ventures it introduced since being founded. One of these was the ‘Metaverse KSI Campus,’ which combined future media technologies with Korean language education for an all-new educational platform. The foundation also began its first collaboration with a reputable overseas government agency through its partnership with the Language Promotion Agency in Uzbekistan.

The ‘KSI Font,’ a font was developed and made available for free downloads from the foundation’s official website. The foundation also launched social responsibility projects, such as providing online educational support for Korean adoptees and multicultural families through collaborations with the National Center for the Rights of the Child, the Seoul Metropolitan City, and the Human Resources Development Service of Korea.

KSIF, which has been a great partner to KSI students for 10 years, hopes to continue offering support to them so that they can become producers and experts of Korean culture. To this end, the foundation has started building networks with universities in and outside of Korea, as well as with companies and alumni. The Foundation also contributed to revitalizing the local community last year, when it hosted the ‘Invitational Training for Outstanding KSI Students’, during which the students visited Sunbee World in Yeongju City in Gyeongsangbuk-do. Last year, the foundation achieved milestone after milestone, listening to suggestions from outside of the Foundation, as well as from within, changing its overseas work policy for instructors so that they can now apply to work at specific KSI locations, instead of applying by region.

The foundation has new ventures planned for 2023, in line with its vision to “connect people all over the world with the Korean language and culture for a future together.”

First is strengthening the ‘expertise’ of Korean language education. In 2023, the foundation plans to open new KSI locations in non-designated countries, with an emphasis on reducing the number of students on the waitlist, and increasing financial support for KSI compared to the previous year. And it will also subdivide the KSI evaluation index to offer more benefits to institutes with outstanding performance and improve the business management system to facilitate communication between foundations, bases, and institutes. In addition, it plans to enhance regulations to ensure more stable and efficient handling of matters related to instructors who go on to work at overseas KSI locations directly from Korea. The foundation will continue to re-educate KSI instructors and enhance the system for training locally hired instructors to promote their competency. In the meantime, the foundation has plans to strengthen its expertise as an institution distributing the Korean language and culture by distributing textbooks and educating teachers for the interpretation and translation course, which has been designed as an advanced course.

The next agenda on the list is to guarantee ‘reliability’ by offering education that is tailored to the needs and demands of students. Each KSI location will be able to choose distinctive curriculums for which educational materials will be provided, and the foundation will be offering support for projects specialized for local conditions. In addition, overseas KSI locations will play a vital role as bases for providing continuous support to various institutions that wish to receive educational materials from the foundation. In particular, the virtual ‘Metaverse KSI Campus’ will begin its full-scale operation this year, along with a renewed education service system available through a mobile app so that students from all around the world can communicate and learn in Korean and experience Korean culture, regardless of their location and time zone, for greater student satisfaction.

Next is to build a ‘sustainable’ foundation as an organization specializing in international relations. The SKA (Sejong Korean Language Assessment), which will be launched officially this year, will be offered three times a year to meet international demand and to increase the applicability of its results. Cultural programs, such as the existing Sejong Culture Academy, overseas cultural internships, and invitational training programs for outstanding learners, will be offered as well.

Best practice cases for instructors and students of KSI as well as best practice cases for KSI operation will be collected and publicized both internally and externally as well. Special programs for overseas audiences will be produced and broadcast in order to increase the awareness of KSI so that more people will learn about the role it plays as an institution playing a vital role in international exchange.

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