Taejae University to take its inaugural class to Tokyo, New York, Hong Kong, Moscow

The all-English Taejae University welcomed its inaugural class, admitting five international students and giving them three-year scholarships.

Yeom Jae-ho, president of Taejae University, center, poses for a photo with students of the university's inaugural class at the school's building in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Wednesday. [YONHAP]

The all-English Taejae University welcomed its inaugural class, admitting five international students and giving them three-year scholarships.

The university held its first entrance ceremony on Wednesday at the school's office in Jongro District, central Seoul.

There are 32 students in the class, with five being international students.

"Taejae University starts with a small number of students, but we think of it as a historical step that will rewrite history," Yeom Jae-ho, president of Taejae University, said in a press conference on Wednesday. "Rather than it being a university that targets Korean students in Korea, we hope to become a global university that can offer a new type of education that fits the digital era of the 21st century."

Taejae University is a cyber university that offers online courses that are all taught in English. Students do meet offline, living together in dorms in five different cities around the world, such as Seoul, Tokyo, Hong Kong, New York and Moscow, and working on group projects together.

Taejae University initially said in April it had an international student quota of 100, but it only selected five from a pool of 37 international applicants.

Kim Tae-hee, dean of the university's office of admissions, said the university wanted to "be selective and admit talented individuals."

The university gave all admitted students a three-year scholarship to incentivize talented candidates to apply.

The university said it plans on providing the three-year scholarship to all international students admitted in the future but didn't say until when the benefits will be offered.

Among the five international students, there are two from Vietnam, one from Tunisia, one from Kazakhstan and one from Israel.

Although the university doesn't have a quota assigned to each country, it aims to have around 80 percent of its future international student body from countries such as the United States, China, Japan and Russia.

"Our aim is for international students in those four key countries to mingle and interact with Korean students to achieve global harmony," Kim said.

Taejae University's students will spend their first three semesters in Seoul and are currently living in a dorm in Dongdaemun District, eastern Seoul.

All first-year students will study in the School of Innovation Foundations in the first year and select their area of concentration in their sophomore year, such as humanities, social sciences, data science, AI or business innovation.

Their fourth semester will be spent in Tokyo, New York for the fifth semester, Hong Kong for the sixth semester and Moscow for the seventh semester. The final eighth semester will be spent back in Seoul.

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