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🇰🇷 South Korea /Culture & Society

Hanyang University ERICA and Kakao Partner for Third Year to Tackle Ansan's Local Issues

From Hankyoreh · () Korean

Translated from Korean, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

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  • Hanyang University ERICA and Kakao are collaborating for the third year on a camp to solve local issues in Ansan.
  • The camp uses IC-PBL and design thinking to help students develop practical solutions for Ansan's challenges.
  • This initiative is linked to a university course, aiming to foster future talent and address community problems.

Hanyang University ERICA is partnering with Kakao for the third consecutive year to tackle local challenges in Ansan through the 'Kakao Ansan Impact Challenge with ERICA IC-PBL' camp. Held from July 21-24, the program aims to identify and resolve community issues by integrating Industry-Coupled Problem Based Learning (IC-PBL) with design thinking.

This year's camp extended to four days from the previous three, allowing students more time to explore Ansan's issues from multiple perspectives and understand various stakeholder viewpoints. Forty Hanyang University ERICA students, selected through a rigorous process, participated in teams. They delved into diverse local concerns, including education for multicultural children, support for the elderly, youth outflow, tourism promotion, international student support, and revitalization of multicultural villages.

This program is a meaningful industry-academia cooperation model where Kakao, Hanyang University ERICA, and Ansan City join forces to solve local issues and nurture future young talent.

— Lee Jae-seungKakao performance leader, commenting on the significance of the collaboration.

Students gained firsthand insights by interviewing Ansan city officials, understanding the realities of local governance. This interaction helped them refine their problem definitions and develop their proposed solutions. Kakao's performance leader, Lee Jae-seung, highlighted the collaboration as a "meaningful industry-academia cooperation model" for addressing local issues and nurturing young talent, pledging continued support for students' practical problem-solving endeavors.

The project will be integrated into the "Impact Challenge Studio" course in the fall semester of 2026. Outstanding teams will receive awards from the Ansan Mayor and Hanyang University President, recognizing their contributions to developing and potentially implementing solutions for the community's problems.

We will spare no support to help young people grow into practical talents by directly participating in solving local community problems.

— Lee Jae-seungKakao performance leader, pledging support for student development.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Hankyoreh in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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