Egypt's Academy of Arts seeks to expand partnership with Korea's art schools

"When young people in Egypt are asked who their favorite band is, a lot of them will choose BTS," Ibrahim Hisham, vice president of the Academy of Arts in Egypt, said.

Ibrahim Hisham, vice president of Academy of Arts, poses for a photo during an interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily [PARK SANG-MOON]

"When young people in Egypt are asked who their favorite band is, a lot of them will choose BTS," Ibrahim Hisham, vice president of the Academy of Arts in Egypt, said. "Korean dramas and movies are also becoming huge, and we are on this trip because we want to know how Korea does this."

As Korea's pop culture becomes mainstream around the globe, Hisham wishes to learn the country's know-how and apply that back to the curriculum back home.

Hisham came to Korea via the Korean Culture and Information Service's K-Fellowship program. The program invites 15 prominent art and culture-related figures to Korea to meet officials and discuss future cooperation, with an aim to introduce Korean culture to the world.

One of the university's focuses is expanding cooperation with Korea National University of Arts (K-Arts), one of its partner institutions. The current partnership allows students at the universities to go on exchange semesters, but the Academy of Arts aims to go beyond.

"K-Arts and Academy of Arts teach various types of arts at one institution, and this isn't something that's common around the world," Hisham said. "A lot of fine arts universities specialize in teaching a specific field such as film, theater or dance, but [the] education provided by K-Arts and Academy of Arts encompasses a wide field."

"I believe such common characteristics will help to strengthen ties and partnerships with each other."

The Korea JoongAng Daily sat down with Hisham during his visit to Korea, discussing the university's plans to collaborate with Korean culture and entertainment institutions to enrich its education.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q. You've met with officials from K-Arts during your trip. What further partnerships do you envision between the two schools?A. Korean culture and arts are becoming even more popular among Egyptian youth, and we are on this trip because we want to know how that happens. As educators teaching arts, we have the responsibility to find out why such a phenomenon is happening and thoroughly learn about that. We are a partner university of K-Arts, and we plan to continue working with them by exchanging know-how about teaching methodology and other areas.

Being partner universities, Students from K-Arts and the Academy of Arts can study as exchange students at each other's universities. Is there a high demand to study arts in Korea for students in Egypt?

Students in Egypt want to come study in Korea. I am the vice president of the Academy of Arts, but I'm also teaching many courses in media art as a professor. My coming to Korea itself was big news at our school, and a lot of students told me they also wanted to go to Korea. Korea is a country that succeeded in showcasing its culture beyond the obstacles of the language barrier. There are a lot of artistically talented students in Egypt, and I think they can go learn and study in various fields of art.

Your school hosted the Gugak Academy in Egypt last year and taught students traditional Korean instruments. Do you have further plans to hold similar programs?

The Korean Culture Center in Egypt is actively trying to spread Korean culture in Egypt, and the Academy of Arts is constantly communicating with the center. We do hope there will be more opportunities to invite Korean artists and have both countries engage in cultural exchanges.

I also visited a lot of film-related institutions, such as the Korean Academy of Film Arts and the committee for the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival. We especially were able to find out that officials from the film festival had a lot of interest in introducing Egyptian films to Korea. There was also interest in not just introducing each others' films to the other country, but also about cultural exchanges.

What specific film-related partnerships do you have in mind?

For example, we could hold a Korean film week in Egypt and create opportunities to introduce Korean film and culture to Egyptians. In terms of education, we could create opportunities for officials to come together and discuss how to develop arts education. Egyptian artists could exchange opinions with Korean artists, influence each other and create synergies.

The Academy of Arts is also part of Egypt's Vision 2030, which aims to achieve sustainable development in all fields, including education. What has the university achieved toward the goal, and what plans do you have?

Vision 2030 is ongoing in Egypt, and the Egyptian Ministry of Culture is doing its best to make that vision come true. We are an educational institute under the ministry and actively working as part of the vision.

We have been expanding our campus and digitizing the way we teach. But our biggest focus is providing high-quality education, allowing our students to graduate after thorough training. Also, we aim to enhance the quality of our education through international partnerships we have with other countries.

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]