The Academy of Korean Studies (AKS) awards the Korean Studies Institution Grant (KSIG) to universities outside Korea for the Core University Program for Korean Studies (CUPKS). The project is designed to provide support for scholars specializing in Korean studies who conduct creative, high-standard interdisciplinary research to establish long-lasting examples for building the field.
Selected universities must have existing Korean studies-related infrastructure; the grant is designed to deepen, strengthen, and expand that infrastructure. Currently, 21 universities around the world are leading the education and research Korea-based scholarship through various Korean studies programs.
The U-M Project Team’s comprehensive five-year project, Visioning Korea for the Next Generation: Korean Studies in the Classroom, aims to investigate social, cultural, and political facets of modern and contemporary Korea in comparative contexts, writ large—inter-national, inter-period, and inter-disciplinary. The project consists of a series of student conferences; fellowship programs for graduate students; curricular enhancement programs; and state-of-the-art research projects. A multi-disciplinary project team, led by Nojin Kwak, director of the Nam Center for Korean Studies at U-M and Professor and Chair of Communication Studies, consists of 10 faculty members from seven different U-M academic departments/schools representing social sciences, humanities and other disciplines.
The CUPKS grant is expected to significantly enhance Korean Studies at U-M, and potentially transform the field of Korean Studies by, among others, enhancing the significance of Korea in academic inquiries, particularly among those who have not yet considered the nuances and insights that Korean cases have to offer, as well as helping the Nam Center solidify its role as a Korean Studies hub for the Midwest region of the United States.
The grant is administered by the Korean Studies Promotion Service (KSPS).
The KSPS supports organic and comprehensive programs of Korean Studies education, research, and international exchange projects of overseas Korean Studies core institutions.
