MA & PhD Studentship in Korean Studies

The Graduate School of Korean Studies in the Academy of Korean Studies is a government-funded institution established to develop and globalise Korean studies. It brings together 50 faculty members and 250 students, a half of whom are international from 33 countries, to create an open and dynamic community to widen and deepen their knowledge in the fields of humanities and social sciences pertinent to Korea.

Programs

– Master’s degree
– Doctoral degree
– Research(non-degree)

Majors

– Korean History
– Diplomatics and Bibliography
– Philosophy
– Korean Linguistics·Korean Literature
– Anthropology·Folklore
– Religious Studies
– Musicology
– Art History
– Cultural Informatics·Human Geography
– Political Science
– Sociology
– Education
– Korean Culture and Society

Benefits for International Students

– Tuition fees are fully waived for the whole coursework period.
– About 70% of international students are provided with the Government Grant, a monthly stipend of ￡460.
– A 5:1 student-faculty ratio enables close one-on-one guidance.
– Korean language courses, tutoring, writing clinic, and various cultural activities are available free of charge, supporting students’ academic performance.

Requirements

– English language proficiency equivalent to or higher than TOEFL iBT 80, IELTS Academic Module 6.5, or TEPS 301 for applicants for Korean Culture and Society major
– Korean language proficiency equivalent to or higher than TOPIK(Test of Proficiency in Korean) level 4 for applicants except for Korean Culture and Society major

Application 
Applications are open on 24th September and close on 8th October 2021. Please apply online at gradaks.recruiter.co.kr

Why Study at GSKS? 

As an educational institute established and funded by the Korean government with the aim of promoting Korean studies, we provide international students with excellent educational and living environments as follows: 

• Tuition fees are fully waived for the whole coursework period for all international students.
• 69.8% of international students benefit from the Government Grant, a monthly stipend of ￡460 for a year, renewable upon evaluation.
• A 5:1 student-faculty ratio enables close one-to-one guidance by professors.
• Korean language courses are available free of charge to assist international students with academic writing, presentations, and discussions.
• Various programs such as tutoring, writing clinic, cultural activities and airfare subsidy for presentation abroad, etc. support students’ academic performance. 

Currently, approximately 250 students including about 120 international students from 33 countries are enrolled in our Master’s or doctoral degree program in the fields of humanities and social sciences pertinent to Korea.  

The Program 

• Coursework period is 2 years for a Master’s degree program and 3 years for a doctoral degree program.
• An academic year consists of two semesters and courses are provided for 15 weeks per semester. A spring semester begins in March, and a fall semester in September.
• Most courses are taught in Korean, while courses in Korean Culture and Society major are provided in English.
• Students earn 3 credits each course. In order to graduate, students of a Master’s degree program should complete 24 credits, and a doctoral degree program 36 credits, other than mandatory Korean language courses which are non-credit. Both Master’s degree and doctoral degree students should write a thesis. 

Entry Requirement 

• A keen interest in Korean studies, coupled with an undergraduate degree (for a Master’s degree program) or a graduate degree (for a doctoral degree program)
• English language proficiency equivalent to or higher than TOEFL iBT 80, IELTS Academic Module 6.5, or TEPS 301 for applicants for Korean Culture and Society major
• Korean language proficiency equivalent to or higher than TOPIK(Test of Proficiency in Korean) level 4 for applicants except for Korean Culture and Society major 

Application Deadline 

Applications are sought twice a year. Application for 2022 spring semester will be open on 24 September and close on 8 October 2021. Applications for 2022 fall semester will be sought in March 2022.

How to Apply 

To apply, visit here and complete the online application form. A soft copy or a scanned copy of the following documents should be uploaded on the application website:

• Personal Statement
• Research Plan
• A graduation certificate and official transcripts
• A score report of TOFEL iBT, IELTS Academic Module, or TEPS (if applicable)
• A TOPIK certificate (if applicable) 

In addition, a letter of recommendation should be sent by email. 

Selection Process 

• 1st Process (If applicable) : Korean Language Proficiency Test

–    If applicants do not submit a valid TOPIK score certificate, GSKS Korean language teachers conduct a phone interview to test their Korean language proficiency.

–    Applicants for Korean Culture and Society major are not applicable.

• 2nd Process : Document Screening

–    Document screening is held for applicants who meet all the application requirement.

–    Overall evaluation of applicants’ research plan, academic ability, language proficiency, and academic background (shown in personal statement and a recommendation letter) takes place. 

• 3rd Process : A Video Interview

–    A video interview is held to those who have passed the 2nd process. 

Contact Us 

If you have any queries about the program or the application process, please contact us at admission_intl@aks.ac.kr or +82-31-730-8183. 

TYPE / ROLE 

Master’s Degree or Doctoral Degree Program 

SUBJECT AREAS 

• Korean History
• Diplomatics and Bibliography
• Philosophy
• Korean Linguistics · Korean Literature
• Anthropology · Folklore
• Religious Studies
• Musicology
• Art History
• Cultural Informatics · Human Geography
• Political Science
• Sociology
• Education
• Korean Culture and Society (Only available for Master’s degree program) 

LOCATION 

Seongnam City – South Korea 

Perched on the side of Cheonggye Mountain, 30km south of the center of Seoul, the campus provides a fantastic setting for the academic pursuits of students with its peaceful atmospheres and natural environments. Also, students can reach dynamic youth culture of Gangnam area within 30 minutes by bus as well as artistic and historic heritage of Seoul city center within an hour

Click here to find out more and fill in application.

Call for Contributions – Transformative Approaches in the Mekong Region (€350 allowance)

To explore new political viewpoints and to facilitate a sharing processes in the ASEAN region and towards Europe, the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Southeast Asia – Hanoi office is calling for contributions on the themes: (i) Social-Ecological Transformation, (ii) Climate Justice and (iii) Food Sovereignty. Please find attached the full document for more details and please help share this to relevant stakeholders.

The contributions can be of various types like academic papers, interviews, political analyses, picture series, comics etc. The selected papers will be published by the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung in a joint book in English and German language.

The final paper should be maximum 15,000 characters describing ideas, concepts or projects of a Social-Ecological Transformation and how they can transform the society. The contributions may focus on projects and concepts in the five Southeast Asian Mekong countries Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar.

Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Southeast Asia will support the editing and publishing of papers that are relevant for our themes and approaches. For each selected paper we will provide an allowance of 350 EUR net.

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Process of submitting papers:

·         A first overview of the paper (maximum one page) should be sent before 6th of June 2021. Paper Selection will be finished by Mid-June

·         The full paper of maximum 15,000 characters should be sent before 15th of September 2021. Related Pictures would be highly valued.

Overviews and papers can be submitted via e-mail to Uyen.Tran@rosalux.org. If you have any inquiries, please do not hesitate to contact us via the above e-mail address.

Click here for the full call for contribution

NUS’ ASIAN GRADUATE STUDENT FELLOWSHIP | 7 June – 16 July 2021

The Asia Research Institute (ARI) of the National University of Singapore (NUS) invites applications from citizens of Asian countries currently enrolled in a full-time MA or PhD degree at a university in an Asian country (except Singapore) for the award of the Asian Graduate Student Fellowship (AGSF). Offered to graduate students working in the humanities and social sciences on Southeast Asian topics, this opportunity will allow the recipients to connect with NUS on a virtual fellowship for a period of six (6) weeks.

Successful candidates can expect the following benefits:

1. Access to library and computer resources in NUS
   You can look forward to excellent library access to e-resources at NUS’ main library (http://www.lib.nus.edu.sg/). NUS’ main library has 2 million volumes covering all topics.
2. Exposure to webinars by various experts in the field
3. An appointed mentor/advisor on your research topic
4. An opportunity to present your research paper at the Singapore Graduate Forum on Southeast Asian Studies to an audience of young international scholars and senior Southeast Asia specialists

Intensive English Academic Writing Program (Optional)

A limited number of students will be selected to take part in a two-week long intensive course on English academic writing, to be held online. This program is specifically intended for students who still struggle with writing and/or communicating in academic English, often coming from non-English speaking backgrounds. This program may benefit students who require support in the English language in their academic courses.

REQUIREMENTS & EXPECTATIONS

Successful candidates for the fellowship are expected to submit a draft of their papers by 21 May 2021. This paper will be shared with his/her local mentor in preparation for his/her interactions with her/him. Subsequently, they are required to send in a full-length paper (4,000-5,000 words) by 23 June 2021, and make a presentation on their work at the 16^th Singapore Graduate Forum on Southeast Asian Studies on 12-16 July 2021.

Please note that the paper must be based on your own work, and only previously unpublished papers or those not already presented elsewhere can be accepted.

For more information about the graduate forum, please visit https://ari.nus.edu.sg/events/16th-singapore-graduate-forum/.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

Candidates are to send a softcopy of the following documents in English language to Ms Tay Minghua at aritm@nus.edu.sg by 25 December 2020:

1. Application Form
2. Paper Proposal
3. Research Proposal
4. A Letter of Recommendation from your Thesis Supervisor

Since the fellowship offers an opportunity to enroll in an English academic writing course, your referee should also address how and why you would benefit from such a program (if applicable).

Please click here for the Application Form. Successful applicants will be notified by mid February 2021.

CONTACT PERSON

For any other queries, please contact Ms Tay Minghua at aritm@nus.edu.sg.

Why Dictators Are Dumb but Can Still Outsmart Others

Sorpong Peou |Ryerson University | Canada

When I say that dictators are dumb, I do not mean to suggest that they do not know how to dictate the way their citizens live or society function. Dictators can be very smart people with high IQ scores. But they tend to become dumb over time because of their tendency to err on the side of relying on too much force rather than too little of it and just do not know when to stop or how to call it quits.

We may need to give dictators a lot of credit for behaving the way they do, and for holding to power when no one else is willing or able to do the same. World history is filled with dictators, the first of whom came to power in Rome around 510 B.C. Until Julius Caesar became dictator for life, however, most dictators left office when their tasks given to them during emergencies were completed.

Oftentimes, dictators’ reigns of terror end tragically. Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 B.C. Napoleon Bonaparte of France has been considered by historians to be the first modern dictator. He enjoyed popularity because he did some good things for his country, such as balancing the budget, reforming state institutions, and writing the Civil Code that laid the foundation of France’s current civil law. Sadly, he did not seem to know when to stop or call its quits. In 1804, he crowned himself emperor, established a network of spies to tighten his control over the government and the press, and pursued his political ambition by invading other countries across Europe. He could not be stopped until Great Britain, Prussia, Spain and Portugal surrounded his empire and when his generals rebelled against him. He was forced to give up his throne and was exiled for good in 1815, after a brief return to power.

More recent dictators also did not know when to call it quits until they were removed from power by force or execution. Adolf Hitler started WWII, was defeated by the Allied Powers and then committed suicide. His ally, Fascist Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, was shot to death and stoned. Pol Pot of Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge reign of terror was known as Brother Number One but ended up as Brother Number Zero. His regime kept slaughtering innocent people and many of his party’s members, but was then driven out of power and eventually arrested by those who served under him. His life was put to an end. Saddam Hussein of Iraq was executed after he had been found in a muddy foxhole. More can be said about Gadhafi of Libya whose fate was sealed after NATO destroyed his armed loyalists.

Health-related death can be another cause of dictators’ demise. The first two Soviet dictators, Vladimir Lenin and Josef Stalin, died after strokes. Mao Zedong of China died at the age of 82, after a heart attack more severe than the previous ones. Fidel Castro of Cuba was replaced by his younger brother because of his worsening health. Dictators do not seem to enjoy good health – and a happy life!

With that said, it is not easy to get rid of dictators because they do not know when to stop until their defeat or death stops their reign of terror. This fact further suggests that they are usually dumb because they think they have no choice but to fight to the death because of their insecurity, if not insanity. Dictators usually come to power amidst chaos and turmoil or violence and war, rely on terror and intimidation to maintain their power bases, instead of building democratic and rule-of-law institutions to enhance their legitimacy. Sadly, they live in fear of subversion, retribution, and assassination.

This insight further explains why any efforts to bring them to justice are likely to fail if doing so without any preponderant power to defeat them decisively. Because of their paranoia and insecurity, they usually develop the strategy of ‘preemptive strike’ against any foes (real or perceived) before any threat to their survival grows stronger. The best counter-strategy for anyone to adopt when not having the level of hard power that can overwhelm that of the dictator also would not be one based on a violent threat to him. Dictators do not like threats, and they balance against them. Economic sanctions, however smart they may be, are more likely to harm civilian populations more than they hurt dictators. Appeasement does not work either because this strategy tends to embolden dictators. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement did not work with Hitler after he had consolidated power in the 1930s, though it might have worked in the 1920s when Germany was weak following WWI.

The only viable strategy when dealing with dictators in our globalized world is one that assures their security through power-sharing arrangements or credible amnesty. Dictators believe they will lose everything if they lose power. They have no reason to trust any promise that any loss of power would still keep them safe and secure. It is worth remembering that dictators are dumb because they do not know when to stop, but they can still outsmart their opponents when their survival is under threat and can stay in power for a very long time. The dictatorship of North Korea has proved this point.

Citation: Peou, S. (2020). Why dictators are dumb but can still outsmart others. Insights on Southeast Asia. Retrieved from https://sea-insights.com/2020/12/15/why-dictators-are-dumb-but-can-still-outsmart-others/

Sorpong Peou is Full Professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at Ryerson University and a member of the Yeates School of Graduate Studies. He was formerly Chair of the Department of Political Science, University of Winnipeg (Manitoba), and Chair of the Advisory and Recruitment Committee for The Manitoba Chair of Global Governance Studies – a joint program between the University of Winnipeg and the University of Manitoba. His major books include Human Security Studies: Theories, Methods and Themes (World Scientific and Imperial College Press, 2014); Peace and Security in the Asia-Pacific (Praeger 2010), Human Security in East Asia: Challenges for Collaborative Action, ed. (Routledge 2008), International Democracy Assistance for Peacebuilding: Cambodia and Beyond (Palgrave Macmillan 2007), Intervention and Change in Cambodia: Toward Democracy (St. Martin’s Press, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies and Silkworms, 2001); and Conflict Neutralization in the Cambodia War: From Battlefield to Ballot-box (Oxford University Press, 1997).

This article was originally published by his personal page: http://www.sorpongpeou.com on May 04, 2020

Call for research proposals : RLS Southeast Asia

RLS Southeast Asia – Hanoi Office is calling for project concept notes for the period from 2021 – 2023!!!!!

Each organization can submit maximum two project concept notes. Projects can be, but are not limited to conferences, policy studies, dialogues, workshops, trainings, awareness raising events, development of communication material, educational art work and advocacy activities. Projects should contribute to our three components (as in the picture) and focus on specific themes.

Project duration: Project can be implemented in 1 year, 2 years or 3 years during the period from 2021 – 2023.

Project value: Single activity projects should not exceed 30,000 EUR /project/year Multiple activity projects should not exceed 45.000 EUR/project/year For applicants, who don’t have any experience working with RLS, we just accept 1-year project concept notes with a maximum amount of 20,000 EUR.

Requirements for applicantsState agencies, research institutes, academic institutions, and not-for profit organizations:• Based in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand• Have legal status for implementation of projects with above topics.

Criteria for selection:

1. Relevance with our thematic focus and political background.

2. Relevant experiences and capacity of applicants.

3. Proven profile to address social and ecological issues in lower Mekong region.

4. Engagement of political actors in the project implementation.

5. Budget efficiency and effectiveness.

Application procedure and deadline:-Interested organizations are invited to submit concept notes in one file and pdf format (maximum 02) to Mr. Nguyen Tung (Nguyen.Tung@rosalux.org) and Ms. Hoang Tra My, RLS Project Manager (TraMy.Hoang@rosalux.org) latest by 10.01.2021.

Details: https://bit.ly/CallforConceptNotes2020