Trio of Korean universities to establish metaverse-focused graduate schools

Kyung Hee University, Chung-Ang University and Soongsil University will open graduate schools that teach students about the metaverse.

Kyung Hee University's metaverse studio, the MR Center [KYUNG HEE UNIVERSITY]

Kyung Hee University, Chung-Ang University and Soongsil University will open graduate schools that teach students about the metaverse.

The three have been selected by the Ministry of Science and ICT's government program that funds universities that wish to open graduate schools dedicated to metaverse studies, according to the universities on Thursday.

Each university will get government funding totaling 5.5 billion won ($4 million) for the next six years. They will get 500 million won in the first year, then annually getting 1 billion won for the next five years.

The three universities will be opening the graduate schools in the fall semester.

The metaverse graduate school at Kyung Hee University will offer courses that teach students about applying metaverse in fields such as arts, performance, education, health and sports.

Chung-Ang University's school will aim to foster students who wish to create metaverse content and learn about the technology used in the metaverse. The graduate school will be focusing on fields such as arts, webtoon and games.

Soongsil University will focus on interdisciplinary learning, with its curriculum also teaching students about AI and other fields.

The government has been offering funding to universities selected for the program since 2022. Konkuk University, Sogang University, Sungkyunkwan University, Sejong University and KAIST have opened metaverse programs at their graduate schools with the funding.

"Metaverse is a promising industry, with companies like Meta and Apple releasing new metaverse gadgets and many using generative AI to create content, but it's still in the early stages," said Hwang Kyu-chul, a software policy officer at the Science Ministry. "To gain the upper hand in the metaverse industry, it's crucial to foster talent, and we will do our best to give our utmost support so the graduate schools of metaverse can play a key role."

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