Conference to explore new directions for liberal arts education in a time of transition
The Korean General Education Society, marking its 20th anniversary, will hold its spring national academic conference on June 26 at Inje University's Jang Yeong-sil Hall and Sineo Hall, focusing on the core challenges confronting liberal arts education.
The conference is co-hosted by the National Council on Liberal Education, the Korean Junior College Liberal Education Council, and the Korean Institute for General Education. It was organized to revisit fundamental questions facing liberal arts education amid a rapidly changing higher education landscape and to broaden the theoretical horizons of future discussion in the field.
The event will open with a keynote address by Min Kyung-chan, professor emeritus at Yonsei University, under the overarching theme "Universities in Transition: Revisiting the Essence of Liberal Arts Education." A total of 40 research presentations are scheduled across eight sessions.
Session topics include the nature and identity of liberal arts education, the realities facing universities and their implications for liberal arts, the direction of liberal arts education in the AI era, liberal arts as civic education, liberal arts and future education, lifelong learning and liberal arts education, and innovation in liberal arts education at universities in the Busan and South Gyeongsang region.
A special session will also examine the challenges facing regional universities in the Busan and South Gyeongsang area and discuss how liberal arts education can be reformed to address them.
The conference will also explore the direction universities in the southeastern region should take within the framework of the "5 Poles, 3 Specials" national balanced development strategy, designed to counter the concentration of resources in the Greater Seoul area, and examine new possibilities for liberal arts education at regional universities.
Society president Yoon Seung-jun said the rapid advancement of AI technology has made critical thinking more important than ever and called for deeper reflection on the values humanity should pursue. "Amid these sweeping changes, the role and importance of liberal arts education is greater than it has ever been," he said.
7toy7@heraldcorp.com
