City's flagship lifelong education project pairs local centers with universities to tailor programs for residents
The city of Paju, led by Mayor Son Bae-chan, is expanding community-based lifelong learning through a flagship program that brings high-quality university education directly into residents' neighborhoods.
The initiative, known as the "Ilsaeng Ildae Project," pairs each participating lifelong learning center with a single university to deliver programs tailored to local characteristics and resident needs.
The program connects university faculty and specialized educational content with local communities, allowing residents to access high-level instruction close to home.
This year, eight universities — Ewha Womans University, Myongji University, Dongguk University, Sogang University, Ajou University, Yonsei University, Seoul National University and Hankuk University of Foreign Studies — are participating alongside eight towns and neighborhoods across the city. In the first half of the year, courses spanning parenting education, the humanities, culture and arts, AI, psychology and economics drew strong public interest and received broadly high satisfaction ratings.
Tanhyeon-myeon partnered with Myongji University to run a humanities program aimed at deepening residents' engagement with the liberal arts, while Munsan-eup worked with Sogang University on a course designed to foster self-reflection and improve quality of life. Unjeong 6-dong teamed up with Yonsei University to offer a humanities lecture series on the age of AI, helping residents better understand a rapidly changing social landscape.
Wollong-myeon and Dongguk University ran a curriculum blending the humanities with culture and arts to cultivate residents' cultural literacy and strengthen learning communities, holding a completion ceremony Tuesday.
A course run jointly by Geumchon 2-dong and Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, titled "Understanding the World Today," covers the history, culture and international affairs of countries around the globe and is scheduled to conclude Sept. 11.
Kim Ji-suk, head of the city's lifelong education division, called the project "a lifelong learning model unique to Paju that extends the excellent educational resources of universities into the everyday lives of citizens." She added that the city would "continue to identify and operate programs that reflect local characteristics and resident needs, further expanding learning opportunities for citizens."
pjh@heraldcorp.com
