Our history

A Korean language and culture programme was launched at ELTE’s Faculty of Humanities for the first time in 1997 under the supervision of Dr. Ágnes Birtalan, who had previously conducted research on traditional culture and Buddhism in South Korea. The four-semester programme specifically focused on providing a deeper understanding of the Korean Peninsula. In the years that followed, the programme, supported by the Korea Foundation and the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Hungary, proved highly successful. The Department of Korean Studies was then established in the summer of 2008. 

The Korean BA programme was launched in September 2008. In 2012, the Hungarian Accreditation Committee also approved the Korean MA programme, and thus, the first MA students were admitted a year later. In 2018, with the accreditation and launch of the Korean PhD programme, the Department of Korean Studies at ELTE became the sole institution offering complex programmes in Korean Studies on different academic levels in Hungary. 

Currently, 168 students are enrolled in our BA, MA and PhD programmes, instructed by our seven members of teaching staff.

Our programmes

Within the Far Eastern Languages and Cultures Programme, the purpose of the Korean Studies programme is to nurture professionals who possess both comprehensive theoretical and practical knowledge of Far Eastern languages and cultures with a special focus on Korea, its history and its culture, and who are also able to demonstrate high levels of proficiency in Korean. The graduates of the BA programme gain in-depth knowledge, which they can apply when continuing their studies in our MA programme or at other universities in Korea. They may also apply for positions at global Korean companies based in Hungary, where there is a constant demand for highly qualified professionals with a deep understanding of Korea’s language and culture. 

The curriculum of the BA programme was designed for students who are yet to be introduced to Korean academic subjects. The programme’s purpose is to provide students with comprehensive knowledge of Korean history, traditional and modern culture, literature and national identity, while also situating Korea within a greater East Asian context. Students are expected to gain an intermediate understanding of and proficiency in Korean language at the end of the three-year programme. The BA is awarded after the student submits a thesis on a Korea-related subject and passes the state examination. 

The MA programme’s curriculum builds on the knowledge acquired at BA level and provides a deeper understanding of history, traditional and modern culture, literature and national identity. Students with profound academic interests willing to engage in academic discourse are encouraged to apply for the programme. Most courses are taught in Korean, and at the end of the two-year programme, students are expected to achieve a strong upper intermediate or higher proficiency in the Korean language. The programme is successfully completed if the student submits a thesis on a Korea-related subject and passes the state examination conducted in Korean. 

The PhD programme’s curriculum was formed to nurture highly qualified researchers, who are particularly interested in a Korea-related academic field, possess in-depth knowledge of this field, and are conducting extensive research related to it. The first two years of the programme offer specialised courses and consultations, in which students are expected to establish the bases of their dissertation. During the second two years of the programme, students prepare their dissertation, while gathering and analysing data. Simultaneously, students are also expected to present their research findings at conferences, publish parts of their research in scholarly journals and take part in other scholarly activities. They are also encouraged to take part in teaching. The four-year programme ends with the submission and public defence of their dissertation.

Academic achievements

Dr. Beatrix Mecsi, our current Head of Department, is regularly invited to international conferences and universities to give presentations on Korean Art History. Recently in 2019, she presented at Seoul National University and Sogang University in Korea as an invited expert, and at Istanbul University in Turkey, where she attended “the 2nd International Academic Conference of Central Eurasia Korean Studies”. The conference was held alongside a speech contest for students of Korean Studies. The contest was won by Dóra Dulai, a student from our department. In addition, our students have successfully taken part in the international Korean speech contest, which has been organised by the Babes-Bolyai University in Romania every year since 2016. 

Our instructors actively attend international conferences at other European universities, not only as part of the CEEPUS and ERASMUS programmes, but also through personal invitation. 

Since 2017, a student conference (Student Conference in Korean Studies) has been held every year at our department, where students of all Korean programmes are invited to present their research findings. The presentations are published in conference proceedings.

Supports, cooperation, international relations

The Korean Studies programmes have received continuous financial support from Seoul-based governmental bodies such as the Academy of Korean Studies and the Korea Foundation, and also from Korean companies based in Hungary: Samsung Electronics, Samsung SDI and Korea Development Bank, among others. The former organisations also offer scholarships for outstanding students, while the latter companies provide constant job opportunities for our graduates. 

We have close relations with the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Hungary, the Korean state-affiliated trade promotion organisation, the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) and the Korean Cultural Centre in Budapest. These governmental bodies and organisations have provided us financial support when certain Korea-related events, such as speech contests and career days, were organised at our department. 

Our department also cooperates with other Korean departments of Central and Eastern European countries’ universities. In 2011, we joined the CEEPUS programme, which creates both incoming and outgoing mobility opportunities for students and teachers among European Korean studies departments. 

Through the Korea Foundation’s Dispatch of Visiting Professors Programme and later the Academy of Korean Studies visiting professor programme, native Korean professors were invited to teach in our department for several years. Samsung Electronics also provided support for one teaching position between 2008 and 2014. 

Under the terms of a bilateral agreement between Eötvös Loránd University and Dankook University in Korea, Dankook University has been sending a visiting professor to our department since 2013. Aside from teacher mobility, our incoming and outgoing student mobility programmes are also very active. Dankook University offers support for students applying for its Korean summer school, and an ERASMUS+ agreement has also been signed between our institutions. 

Currently, our department is establishing relations with Kyung Hee University in Korea.

Major projects

After a successful application for support from the Academy of Korean Studies, the Korean Studies Promotion Service (KSPS) provided course material development support for our instructors, support for purchasing necessary equipment for teaching and research, and also financed the creation of a web-based hanja (Chinese characters used in Korean) teaching programme between 2009 and 2011.

In 2019, we applied for the “Window on Korea” programme, created by the National Library of Korea. Through the financial support received, our department has started to establish its own individual library. To date, approximately 2,500 Korea-related volumes have arrived from the country.

Major programmes in the last few years

In 2018, “Korea Day” was organised with the support of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Hungary and the Korean Cultural Centre. The festivities consisted of various cultural programmes and a speech contest for the students on our courses. The day also commemorated the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Korean Department. 

Since 2018, “Career Day” has been organised every year with the support of the Embassy’s trade promotion agency, KOTRA. On this day, Korean companies based in Hungary set up booths and offer one-on-one consultation to students interested in working at a Korean company in the future. 

In 2019, commemorating the 25th anniversary of sister city relations between Daejeon and Budapest, our department hosted a speech contest supported by the Embassy and the Korean Cultural Centre. At the speech contest, which was open to the public, the category winners received a return flight to Korea with an opportunity to attend a language course there, sponsored by the Daejeon International Centre and Hannam University. 

The Department of Korean Studies is the only centre in Hungary focused on Korean Studies, offering complex and accredited programmes on the language as well as social and cultural history. As a result, our number of students has steadily increased every year. Reflecting the university’s educational development and internationalisation strategy, our department organises diverse Korea-related programmes and provides various opportunities to students and teachers alike to join international mobility programmes in order to expand their horizons while gaining valuable practical experience.