Korea National Open University (KNOU, ko, 한국방송통신대학교) is a national university of

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

. The school provides higher education including undergraduate, graduate and non-degree programs as well as distance-learning courses in

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

for more than 180,000 students. It was established in 1972 as a branch faculty of Seoul National University, with 2-year junior college courses. In 1982, KNOU was separated from SNU and established as a national university, launching programs for 4-year

undergraduate degrees An undergraduate degree (also called first degree or simply degree) is a colloquial term for an academic degree earned by a person who has completed undergraduate courses. In the United States, it is usually offered at an institution of higher ...

. As of 2009, the university has 46 offices and regional learning centres nationwide, and domestic

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

channel (OUN) for broadcasting lectures. It provides accredited bachelor's and

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

for various fields, as well as non-degree qualifications such as

diplomas A diploma is a document awarded by an educational institution (such as a college or university) testifying the recipient has graduated by successfully completing their courses of studies. Historically, it has also referred to a charter or offici ...

and certificates, or

life-long learning Lifelong learning is the "ongoing, voluntary, and self-motivated"Department of Education and Science (2000).Learning for Life: Paper on Adult Education Dublin: Stationery Office. pursuit of knowledge for either personal or professional reasons ...

units. The school's main campus is located in Daehak-ro, Jongro-gu, Seoul. With more than 180,000 students enrolled, including 700 postgraduate students, KNOU is the first distance and lifelong educational institution of South Korea, and the largest educational institution in the country by enrollment. Since its foundation, more than 500,000 students have been enrolled, and 350,000 students graduated from the university.

History

KNOU was founded in 1972 as a branch of Seoul National University. It began by offering a two-year junior college program to 12,000 students and now has over 200,000 full-time, degree-seeking students for four-year university programs and some part-time students for non-degree, lifelong education programs. It also offers online graduate programs for several major areas.

Education

The university includes four colleges: *College of Liberal Arts *College of Social Science *College of Natural Science *College of Education It also include
seventeen graduate schools:
*Department of Practical English *Department of Practical Chinese *Department of Japanese Language & Culture *Department of French Language & Culture *Department of Law *Department of

Public Administration Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment (public governance), management of non-profit est ...

*Department of Management *Department of

Media Arts New media art includes artworks designed and produced by means of electronic media technologies, comprising virtual art, computer graphics, computer animation, digital art, interactive art, sound art, Internet art, video games, robotics, 3D pri ...

& Culture Contents *Department of

Agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

and

Life Science Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energy t ...

*Department of Economics *Department of

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to practical disciplines (includi ...

*Department of

e-Learning Educational technology (commonly abbreviated as edutech, or edtech) is the combined use of computer hardware, software, and educational theory and practice to facilitate learning. When referred to with its abbreviation, edtech, it often refer ...

*Department of Bioinformatics *Department of Envitonmental Health Systems *Department of

Nursing Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health ...

*Department of

Lifelong Education Lifelong learning is the "ongoing, voluntary, and self-motivated"Department of Education and Science (2000).Learning for Life: Paper on Adult Education Dublin: Stationery Office. pursuit of knowledge for either personal or professional reasons ...

*Department of Youth Education *Department of

Early Childhood Education Early childhood education (ECE), also known as nursery education, is a branch of education theory that relates to the teaching of children (formally and informally) from birth up to the age of eight. Traditionally, this is up to the equival ...

Campus

The university has campuses in every major city of

. Cities which have KNOU campuses include:

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

Daejeon Daejeon () is South Korea's fifth-largest metropolis, with a population of 1.5 million as of 2019. Located in the central-west region of South Korea alongside forested hills and the Geum River, the city is known both for its technology an ...

Chungnam South Chungcheong Province ( ko, 충청남도, ''Chungcheongnam-do''), also known as Chungnam, is a province of South Korea. South Chungcheong has a population of 2,059,871 (2014) and has a geographic area of 8,204 km2 (3,168 sq mi) located in ...

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, ...

, Daegu-

Gyeongbuk North Gyeongsang Province ( ko, 경상북도, translit=Gyeongsangbuk-do, ) is a province in eastern South Korea. The province was formed in 1896 from the northern half of the former Gyeongsang province, and remained a province of Korea until the ...

, Incheon, Gwangju-

Jeonnam South Jeolla Province (; ''Jeollanam-do''; ), also known as Jeonnam, is a province of South Korea. South Jeolla has a population of 1,902,324 (2014) and has a geographic area of located in the Honam region at the southwestern tip of the Korean ...

Gyeonggi Gyeonggi-do (, ) is the most populous province in South Korea. Its name, ''Gyeonggi'', means "京 (the capital) and 畿 (the surrounding area)". Thus, ''Gyeonggi-do'' can be translated as "Seoul and the surrounding areas of Seoul". Seoul, the na ...

, Gangwon,

Jeonbuk North Jeolla Province (; ''Jeollabuk-do''), also known as Jeonbuk, is a province of South Korea. North Jeolla has a population of 1,869,711 (2015) and has a geographic area of 8,067 km2 (3,115 sq mi) located in the Honam region in the southwest ...

Chungbuk North Chungcheong Province ( ko, 충청북도, ''Chungcheongbuk-do''), also known as Chungbuk, is a province of South Korea. North Chungcheong has a population of 1,578,934 (2014) and has a geographic area of located in the Hoseo region in the s ...

Gyeongnam South Gyeongsang Province ( ko, 경상남도, translit=Gyeongsangnam-do, ) is a province in the southeast of South Korea. The provincial capital is at Changwon. It is adjacent to the major metropolitan center and port of Busan. The UNESCO Worl ...

Ulsan Ulsan (), officially the Ulsan Metropolitan City is South Korea's seventh-largest metropolitan city and the eighth-largest city overall, with a population of over 1.1 million inhabitants. It is located in the south-east of the country, neighboring ...

Jeju Jeju may refer to: * Jeju Island (Jejudo), an island near South Korea * Jeju Province (formerly transliterated Cheju), a province of South Korea comprising Jejudo **Jeju City, the biggest city on Jejudo **Jeju dog, a dog native to Jejudo ** Jeju l ...

Notable alumni

* Kim, Hyo-joon, CEO of BMW Korea * Lee, Kyung-jun, Former CEO of KT Corporation * Kwon, Young-soo, Vice Chairman of LG Group, Former CEO of LG Display * Lee, Chul, Former CEO of Korail * Kim, Il-joong, CEO of Pantech Korea * Kim, Jun-il, CEO of Lock & Lock * Choi, Yoon-cheol, CEO of Dong Il Architects & Engineers * Lee, Pan-jung, CEO of NetPia * Park, In-ju, CEO of Zeniel * Lee, Jae-myung, Governor of Gyeonggi-do province * Song, Yong-gil, Mayor of Incheon city * Seol, Dong-geun, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology * Kim, Choong-hwan, Member of National Assembly(Senator) * Lee, Jin-bok, Member of National Assembly(Senator) * Chung, Doo-eon, Member of National Assembly(Senator) * Kim, Choon-jin, Member of National Assembly(Senator) * Oh, Jong-nam, Professor at Seoul National University *

Kang In-soo Kang In-soo (; born March 10, 1988) is a South Korean singer and actor. Born in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, he was an aspiring singer in his adolescence and applied to the Department of Theater and Film in high school, but majored in dance follow ...

, singer *

Kim Kwang-kyu Kim Kwang-kyu (born January 7, 1941) is a South Korean poet and translator."김광규 " biographical PDF available at: http://klti.or.kr/ke_04_03_011.do# Life Kim was born in Seoul and studied German language and literature at Seoul Nationa ...

, actor *

Kim Mi-sook Kim or KIM may refer to: Names * Kim (given name) * Kim (surname) ** Kim (Korean surname) *** Kim family (disambiguation), several dynasties **** Kim family (North Korea), the rulers of North Korea since Kim Il-sung in 1948 ** Kim, Vietnamese ...

, actress

References

External links

Official school website
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Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...