Discussion on the Internationalization of the GB Program

(Left: St. John’s College / Right: Stony Brook University, State University of New York)

Incheon National University (President: In-jae Lee) HakSan Library (Director: Young-don Yoon) INU Great Books Center (Director: Seung-hyun Hwang) visited St. John’s College, Princeton University, and Stony Brook University, State University of New York, in sequence from January 6 to 18, 2026, to discuss the expansion of faculty and student exchanges and international cooperation measures for the internationalization of the GB Program.

Participating in the visit were Professors Hyo-jin Ahn (Department of Early Childhood Education), Yun-kyung Kim (Department of Ethics Education), and Jung-woo Kim (Department of Physics). Professor Yong-hwa Lee (Department of English Language and Literature), who is currently dispatched as a visiting professor to St. John’s College, also joined the delegation on site. The visiting group concretized key cooperation agendas, focusing on the regularization of faculty exchanges, the establishment of an international GB expert certification system, and the potential introduction of joint seminars and joint degree programs.

At St. John’s College, discussions centered on designing an international joint curriculum based on discussion-oriented seminar classes and linking the GB Program with Korean elementary, middle, and high school curricula. During the visit to the STEM Education Research Center at Princeton University, the delegation shared cases of interdisciplinary education 운영 and reviewed ways to integrate GB-style seminar classes into science and engineering fields. Subsequently, with the Center for Korean Studies at Stony Brook University, State University of New York, the parties signed an MOU for international academic and educational exchange cooperation and agreed to promote student exchanges, joint workshops, and the co-development of a Korean Great Books Seminar.

Through this visit, the GB Center plans to expand its network with leading overseas universities, establish a foundation for GB curriculum certification and joint degree initiatives, and enhance the reliability and competitiveness of the program. The Center also expects to strengthen its role as a library-based international hub for the humanities and to generate spillover effects by extending the program to the local community and universities across Korea.