The only university department teaching ‘Go’ faces closure

Daniela Trinks probably would not have stepped foot in South Korea if it wasn’t for the small ‘Go’ (a Chinese strategy board game) club in her neighbourhood in Berlin and her mother who had read about the game in a novel and became intrigued, writes Ko Dong-hwan for The Korea Times.

In 2006, Daniela Trinks left Germany and started studying at Myongji University in Yongin in Korea, the only university in the world back then that offered a programme specialising in ‘Go’. After giving lectures at different universities while studying ‘Go’, known as ‘Baduk’ in Korea, she earned her doctoral degree in 2014 and became a professor at her alma mater the following year. She was the first foreign national to teach in Myongi’s department of Baduk studies.

Now Trinks fights for something greater than her individual purpose: the fate of her department. To streamline itself to follow ongoing trends and demands, the school decided to merge with Myongji College in Seoul and shut down departments they deemed are low in popularity, one of which is the Baduk department. The list also includes the math, physics, chemistry and philosophy departments. They are to be replaced by new programmes including global Korean language, global cultural contents, metaverse/game contents, global beauty design and global K-pop.
Full report on The Korea Times site