Every academic year, KDI School organizes a range of diverse and interesting field trips for its future policymakers who come from different parts of the world to pursue their academic journey at the school. 

These carefully curated excursions are designed to provide students with invaluable educational experiences, practical insights, and opportunities to forge connections that extend beyond the confines of the classrooms.

Notably, a significant portion of our student body hails from developing countries. These field trips are golden opportunities for the future leaders at KDIS to gain ideas and inspiration to enact positive changes in their respective communities upon their return to their home countries.

A recent excursion to the Sejong City Integration Information Center & the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlement (KRIHS) marked the first field trip of the many upcoming throughout the academic year for the 2024 Spring semester at KDIS. 

The Sejong City Integration Center serves as a smart city control tower in Sejong City - a centralized hub managing a range of safe and convenient smart services, including security, transportation, and disaster management by featuring internally integrated facilities. It uses a combination of advanced technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance safety, efficiency, and quality of life for its residents. 

“It was a wonderful experience to witness how Sejong City has integrated AI into its system. The concept of a smart city is new to me so, I was amazed throughout the guided tour at the Integration Center especially when they demonstrated how they can track a missing person using their AI-integrated system,” expressed Madhav Kumar Budha, a MDP student from Nepal.

"It was a truly climactic moment for me, when the curtains dropped, and beyond the glass windows stood a huge wall with huge computer screens monitoring different parts of the city through CCTV cameras," reminisced another participant from Peru, reflecting on the awe-inspiring moment when the students were granted a glimpse into the working space of the center following an insightful information session.

The Student Affairs Division, the school body responsible for organizing the field trip, emphasized the trip to be particularly effective for the students related to or interested in development planning, transport, or technology. As the trip progressed from the City Integration Information Center  to KRIHS, the students couldn’t agree more. 

KRIHS (Korea Research Institute for Human Settlement), one of the national research institutes, provided the students with a glimpse into national territorial policy development with research on balanced national development, housing stability, infrastructure development and geospatial information systems.  

KDIS students were hosted by the Global Development Partnership Center (GPDC) at KRIHS. Dr. Youn Hee Jeong, director of the GDPC, shared her insights on Korea’s urban planning policies and its contribution to Korea’s remarkable economic growth emphasizing the importance of urban planning and policies for national transformation.

“I had learnt about Korea’s economic development in one of my classes, but getting to know more about it from the director, who has over 20 years of experience working with KRIHS, herself was a great experience for me”, said another participant from Nepal. He added “The Q&A session was impressive. It helped me gain a deeper understanding of intricacies of national development planning and the importance of research in policy-making.”

In addition to the informative presentation, students had an interactive discussion with Dr.Youn Hee Jeong enriching them with a deeper understanding of their responsibility as policymakers for effective national planning and development. 

The participating students would like to thank the Sejong City Integration Information Center, KRIHS, and Dr. Jeong for hosting them and providing an engaging and valuable learning experience - thank you!