Dormitory for Korean student to be built in Paris

A dormitory (aerial view) will open for Korean student in Paris, France in 2018.

The Ministry of Education and the Korea Foundation for the Promotion of Private School held a groundbreaking ceremony for “Korean dormitory” for Korean students at Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris on Thursday (local time).

The construction of dorm, which will be complete by November 2017 with its first resident students boarding from 1st semester in 2018, was first suggested by the French government. At bilateral summits in May 2011 and November 2013, Paris came up with the idea and suggested that it would provide 2,600 square meters of land (worth of some 9.68 million U.S. dollars) for free for Seoul to build the dorm.

“The dorm will commemorate 130 years of diplomatic ties between Korea and France, and lay down the foundation for Korean Wave in educational perspective in France,” the ministry showed its expectation.

With a total of 252 rooms, the dorm will have a 200-seat theater and other additional facilities such as restaurants, conference rooms, exhibition room, offices, lounge and cooking area. Some 70 percent (approx. 180 persons) will be Korean students while the rest (30 percent) students from different countries. “The dorm is going to be built to offer a venue where students of different nationalities could stay, exchange and build a network together,” sources from the ministry explained.

Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris is a multinational dormitory complex built in 1920 with the initiative of French educational ministry to heal the wound of the First World War and to promote exchanges of university students with different nationalities.

Some 25 countries such as the U.S., Germany, Japan, India and Cambodia have built their dorms and participated in the operation. Korea will be the 26th nation to have one in the complex. “We will provide needed-support for its successful construction.

"This will be good opportunity to further enhance the bilateral cooperation,” a ministry source said. Currently, some 6,500 Korean students are studying in France.