SUNGKYUNKWAN UNIVERSITY (SKKU), SEOUL, KOREA

Sungkyunkwan University is running various programs through the establishment of an open platform for convergence education. The specialization program project group, 'Convergence-based Cultivation of Creative Specialists Project Group (C-school)', provides student-centered convergence programs. The specialization programs encourage students to connect with various issues and make convergence teams to solve those issues with their own creative ideas. Students are also able to be engage in collaborative work processes, be creative, and utilize the specialties of their majors by participating in the Convergence Basis Project, Vision Camp, and Global Camp. Students have the opportunity to enhance their problem-solving skills by further applying software, design, and other applicable subjects to their own base studies.

"The convergence program in C-School is very creative curriculum that breaks the walls between studies, and helps students carry out their aspirations and talents through genuine convergence," said Prof. Bae Sang-hoon, Director for the Center of Innovative Higher Education (CI-Edu), and the specialization program.

Starting this year, an arena for practical communication and exchange will be made based on the imagining power of scientific minds and humanities studies. The Sungkyun PUSH (Public Understanding of Science and Humanity) Forum's primary objectives are to accumulate knowledge through multidisciplinary integrated understanding, solve global issues, pioneer new research areas, and more. The Sungkyun PUSH Forum aims to proliferate and share instances of convergence between different fields of study. At the Forum there will be discussions on topics with overlapping fields such as IoT, healthcare, law, happiness, medicine, etc. Other programs such as the 'Convergence SEED Study Project' and the 'Convergence Department and Education Program' are also expected to be held.

SKKU developed various convergence modules through the 'Sungkyun PUSH Forum Knowledge Exchange Meeting' in order to make an environment for multidisciplinary and convergence education. There are various interdisciplinary courses that teach software to students of humanities and social sciences such as the 'Interdisciplinary Program of Multidisciplinary Informatics' and the 'Interdisciplinary Program of Convergence Software'.

As the importance of curriculums that reflect the needs of industry and society continues to increase, schools of engineering, information & communication, and other majors are cooperating with companies like Samsung Electronics, Samsung SDS, and others to create new subjects to meet the demand. Also, SKKU has been supporting convergence education in a variety of different majors. Nowhere is this more prevalent then with the Department of Education where they are combining subjects such as informatics and big data to create new subjects like 'Emotional Intelligence and Informatics' and 'Big Data Analysis and Future Prediction'.