No. 83 | May 2020
KSIF Newsletter
KSIF to accelerate its entrance into strategic countries
with no KSIs by designating prospective KSIs
- Designated 18 candidate countries
(New Southern/New Northern countries with no KSIs)
- Currently recruiting educational institutions in candidate countries and Korean
universities that wish to undertake Korean language education
The KSIF will be moving forward in its efforts to enter countries that do not have any KSIs
by designating prospective KSIs, one of its newest projects/initiatives.
In April, the KSIF announced 18 countries that require strategic entry through its
“Guidelines for Preliminary Designation of King Sejong Institute 2020.” Since then,
it has begun recruiting Korean universities to undertake Korean education in cooperation
with educational institutions in one of the 18 countries. Korean universities that wish to
participate in this endeavor must send a completed application form to the KSIF employee
in charge via email (coksi@ksif.or.kr) by May 8.
Based on a comprehensive assessment of the ability of domestic operational institutions
to offer Korean language education and the basic infrastructure of local institutions, the
KSIF plans to designate up to five prospective KSIs in 2020. Those that are designated as a
prospective KSI are eligible to receive up to two years of financial support (e.g. personnel
expenses for teachers) and must later submit an application to be designated as an
official KSI.
The candidate countries for 2020 include: South Africa, Nepal, New Zealand, Georgia,
Armenia, Moldova, United States, Bangladesh, Brunei, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Qatar,
Cuba, Tanzania, and Tunisia. The candidates were selected based on their fulfillment of
one of three criteria: 1) a New Southern or New Northern country that does not have a
KSI, 2) a country without a KSI that was designated by the Korean government to receive
aid for the teaching of Korean, or 3) a country that requires improvement of its Korean
language capabilities based on Korean government policy (e.g. subject to the Korean
government’s Employment Permit System). Countries that are in need of enhanced
Korean education but are not a candidate country are also welcome to apply.
The designation of Prospective KSIs in 2020 is a new project that was launched by the
KSIF this year and is expected to act as a stepping stone for institutions that wish to
be designated as a KSI to try operating a Korean language education program prior to
receiving designation. The KSIF hopes to use this project to strategically discover and
support promising educational institutions in target regions and/or countries that do not
have any KSIs.