Global universities embed AI across curricula as Korea expands AI departments

Korean higher education is rapidly scaling AI capacity, adding over 4,000 seats in AI and related fields since 2024 and preparing to launch AI colleges with a combined 400 admission spots, supported by 30 billion won from the Ministry of Education and additional funding from the Ministry of Science and ICT. Student interest is high, with a 16 percent rise in applications to AI programs and record applicant numbers to the nation’s science institutes.

Meanwhile, top global universities are taking a different route, integrating AI across curricula rather than expanding standalone programs. NTU targets AI inclusion in 40 percent of its 52 undergraduate degrees by 2030, using AI for both personalized learning and student-developed agents. NUS has restructured its undergraduate curriculum since 2016 to make quantitative reasoning compulsory and to keep pedagogy ahead of technology.

KCL is experimenting with AI-enabled assessments, providing law students with professional AI software. LSE and SMU are weaving AI tools like Claude and Microsoft Copilot into existing social-science and business courses while encouraging critical evaluation. These strategies highlight a shift from sheer enrollment growth toward rethinking teaching, learning and assessment in the AI era.