Oriental Studies – Korean Studies

Full-time undergraduate and graduate studies, and part-time undergraduate studies.

The program in Oriental Studies – Korean Studies is highly interdisciplinary, although the leading discipline is cultural and religious studies. This unique educational program is offered exclusively at the Faculty of Oriental Studies at the University of Warsaw, which boasts almost 90 years of experience in teaching about Oriental/African cultures and languages, including Korean. This experience is evidenced by the creation of the unique program in Oriental Studies – Korean Studies. The curriculum is based on years of experience and practice in teaching and researching issues related to Korean culture and language. The lecturers are specialists, in most cases the only ones in Poland, in matters related to this geographical and cultural area, conducting advanced research supported by numerous publications in both Polish and foreign publishing houses. Language classes are conducted by native speakers. Additionally, to enhance their qualifications and language skills, students have the opportunity to apply for a language or scientific internship in the Republic of Korea.

The intended learning outcomes have a dual nature: they guarantee the acquisition of extensive knowledge in various aspects of Korean culture and the ability to use the Korean language. The studies provide broad knowledge in literature, history, philosophy, religion, and the art of the cultural world of Korea and ensure the acquisition of advanced language skills and competencies through intensive learning of the Korean language.

The comprehensive education provided by the program in Oriental Studies – Korean Studies, which also encompasses broadly understood humanities, allows for future interdisciplinary research and understanding the roots of contemporary world issues and attempts to find solutions to them. It provides students with a wide horizon necessary for understanding today’s problems and conflicts arising from civilizational differences. The program also enables the training of new personnel in the field of cultural and religious studies and other scientific disciplines. Implementing the program in Oriental Studies – Korean Studies allows for achieving cognitive synergy and shaping a new trend of thinking and social awareness, comprising the much-needed understanding, openness, and tolerance towards others, and recognizing the value of one’s own culture and ethical attitudes stemming from the European and Korean circles.

The acquired knowledge will allow graduates of the Oriental Studies – Korean Studies program to navigate the general issues concerning the theory and practice of Korean culture. Graduates will understand the diversity of cultures and civilizations, enabling them to participate in the process of intercultural communication and cooperation. They will have a foundation for theoretical reflection on Korean culture. Graduates will be able to analyze fundamental phenomena related to Korean culture, using sound language preparation and methodological preparation in cultural and religious studies, linguistics, philosophy, history, literary studies, and art studies as tools for analysis.

Graduates will be ready to work in cultural promotion institutions, media, editorial offices, and public administration. The increasingly intensive economic contacts with Korea create a demand in the job market for experts familiar with the language and cultural-social realities of this country. Political and diplomatic contacts with Korea require the employment of specialists in Korean language and culture, who are graduates of the Oriental Studies – Korean Studies program. Moreover, graduates will be prepared to pursue graduate studies.

Language and cultural classes conducted as part of the part-time studies take place in the afternoon and evening hours from Monday to Friday. 

The University of Warsaw was the very first university in Poland to offer Korean language classes. Korean began to be taught as a second Oriental language in 1953, first in the Chinese Studies and later in the Japanese Studies Section. The political situation of the 1950s, the growing number of Korean students in Poland, and the presence of Korean War orphans all helped to promote interest in Korean studies. The number of students enrolling in Korean language courses increased. One of these students, Halina Ogarek-Czoj, would be instrumental in creating the Korean Studies Section. While Poland remained within the Communist Bloc, the Korean language was taught by lecturers from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea; the last of them left in 1989.

In response to the demand for Korean studies observed in the 1980s, a separate unit dedicated specifically to this academic discipline was created in 1983. The most serious problem the Korean Studies Section had to face at the time was the poor quality of teaching materials and library holdings, whose majority came from North Korea.

Using their personal contacts, with invaluable assistance from the Association of Korean Studies in Europe (AKSE), the staff could add South Korean publications to the teaching resources. These efforts by the faculty resulted in a rapid adjustment to South Korean standards, introduced between 1990 and 2008 by South Korean professors sent by the South Korean government. When Poland and South Korea established diplomatic relations in 1989, students and faculty members were offered the opportunity to visit South Korea, to study and do research there. Many organizations, most notably the Korea Foundation, have been donating books and other resources to the Korean Studies Section, helping to increase the holdings of its library to more than eight thousand volumes at present.

In October 2015, a separate Department of Korean Studies was established. The Department conducts joint research projects with several Korean and European universities and centres of Korean studies.

The Department of Korean Studies conducts research in the following fields:

• Korean literature
• Korean culture
• Korean phonetics
• Korean history
• Korean language and linguistics

More detailed information about the study program and the major can be found on the website: www.koreanistyka.orient.uw.edu.pl