Broadcast University TV marks 30 years with plans to use AI to lower learning barriers

Broadcast University TV, the educational channel of Korea National Open University, marked its 30th anniversary on Sept. 2 with a pledge to use artificial intelligence to make learning more accessible.

Kim Jong-oh, the university’s president, said OUN would move beyond the role of a traditional broadcaster and become a future education platform that lowers learning barriers through AI. He said the channel, launched in 1996, had opened new paths to learning as it developed from radio lectures into education media using AI and extended reality.

The anniversary ceremony reviewed OUN’s history and presented plans for educational content in a rapidly changing media environment. The university’s Digital Media Center said OUN would become an education-technology organization covering multiple digital technologies and platforms rather than functioning only as a broadcast channel.

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We will move beyond a traditional broadcaster and become a future education platform that lowers learning barriers through AI, supporting lifelong learning for the public.

Lee Seong-min, director of the center, said OUN had a public responsibility as one of only three public channels in South Korea to provide free access to higher education. The center plans to strengthen its content planning and production and reshape itself into an education-technology platform organization.

The university began distance education with radio lectures in 1972 and started televising lectures in 1985. It launched its own cable channel, OUN, in 1996, later expanding to services such as the mobile U-KNOU Campus platform and, more recently, extended-reality production systems.

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As one of only three public channels in South Korea, we will clearly and steadily fulfill our public duty of opening higher education free to everyone.