The Gukhak, was the sole recorded institution of higher learning in the

Silla Silla or Shilla (57 BCE – 935 CE) ( , Old Korean: Syera, Old Japanese: Siraki2) was a Korean kingdom located on the southern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula. Silla, along with Baekje and Goguryeo, formed the Three Kingdoms of K ...

period of medieval Korean history.''Gyeongju Hyanggyo (a local school annexed to the Confucian shrine)''
Gyeongju City-Transportation System, Retrieved on August 2, 2009 It provided training in the

Chinese classics Chinese classic texts or canonical texts () or simply dianji (典籍) refers to the Chinese texts which originated before the imperial unification by the Qin dynasty in 221 BC, particularly the "Four Books and Five Classics" of the Neo-Confucian ...

. An earlier institution, the

Taehak Sungkyunkwan was the foremost educational institution in Korea during the late Goryeo and Joseon Dynasties. Today, it sits in its original location, at the south end of the Humanities and Social Sciences Campus of Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul ...

, had been founded in 372. The Gukhak was established early in the Unified Silla period, in 682 (the second year of

King Sinmun Sinmun of Silla (r. 681–692) was the thirty-first king of Silla, a Korean state that originated in the southwestern Korean peninsula and went on to unify most of the peninsula under its rule in the mid 7th century. He was the eldest son of Sil ...

). During the reign of King Gyeongdeok (r. 742-765) its name was changed briefly to ''Daehakgam'' (대학감, 大學監) but reverted to ''Gukhak'' during the following reign of King Hyegong (r. 765-780). Like its counterpart in Tang China, the Gukhak was established primarily to train local officials in the Confucian classics and the composition skills requisite for the governance of an enlarged Silla state. The establishment of such an institution was increasingly critical by the 7th century with the maturation of Silla's bureaucratic system modeled upon that of Tang China. The Gukhak was superseded by the Gukjagam, which was established in

Gaegyeong Kaesong (, ) is a special city in the southern part of North Korea (formerly in North Hwanghae Province), and the capital of Korea during the Taebong kingdom and subsequent Goryeo dynasty. The city is near the Kaesong Industrial Region close to ...

in 992 during the

Goryeo Goryeo (; ) was a Korean kingdom founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korean Peninsula until 1392. Goryeo achieved what has been called a "true national unificati ...

dynasty.

Entrance qualifications

In the Gukhak, people who have less than an ambassador or who can have a degree even if they do not. Students were able to enter Gukhak from 15 to 30 years old. When they graduated from the Gukhak, they were given the title of Nama or 'Daema'. It is estimated that most of the students were six-dupum.

References

Korean Confucianism Education in Korea Silla Educational institutions established in the 7th century 682 establishments {{Korea-hist-stub

Entrance qualifications

See also

References