'Gupo Gaesijang' Changed by Us ... Dongseo University Sells Classes

LINC+ Project Team and Busan Buk-gu Office Collaborate on 'Pet-Friendly City Character Development' Project

Dongseo University Promotes Revitalization of Declining City Image through 'Class Selling' Course

Pet characters being developed by Dongseo University. Through their courses, the university plans to develop and deliver pet-friendly concept characters for Buk-gu, Busan.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] “We are selling classes.” This is a class about how to transform the ‘Gupo Dog Market,’ which has always given Busan citizens a negative image.

Dongseo University has jumped into a character development project with the concept of Busan Buk-gu as a pet-friendly city through its curriculum.

The Social Customized Industry-Academia Cooperation Leading University (LINC+) Development Project Group at Dongseo University (President Jang Je-guk) is promoting the ‘Creating a New Face for Buk-gu: Pet-Friendly City Character Development’ as part of the ‘Connected Hearts (Ieum) Project’ jointly conducted with Busan Buk-gu Office.

The ‘Ieum Project’ is a project that links the professional capabilities of Dongseo University students in cultural content planning, design, and development to the urban regeneration pilot project promoted by Busan Buk-gu, aiming to lead successful urban regeneration and New Deal initiatives.

Buk-gu, which operated the ‘Gupo Dog Market’ for nearly 60 years, closed it last year and is carrying out maintenance projects for ‘Animal-Friendly City Gupo.’

The Dongseo University LINC+ Project Group conducted the ‘Finding a New Face for Buk-gu’ through a Living Lab in 2020 and delivered the results to Buk-gu.

The current ‘Buk-gu Character Development Project’ promoted by Buk-gu Office and Dongseo University LINC+ Project Group was initiated at Buk-gu’s request to upgrade the results of last year’s Living Lab. The project will be conducted using Dongseo University’s ‘Class Selling’ method.

Dongseo University’s ‘Class Selling®’ is a representative industry-academia cooperation program that immediately responds to the demands of the region and companies by reorganizing academic courses to enhance students’ practical skills.

Class Selling, meaning selling courses, is a kind of ‘customized program’ where courses requested by local communities and companies are opened, students are guided jointly with professors, and the outcomes derived from the classes are sold to the demand sources.

This ‘Buk-gu Character Development Project’ (Professor Lee Seung-hee) plans to develop characters with distinctiveness from other regions through △character renewal work △character application development △character emoticon development △character story development △character goods design development △character guideline production.

The developed characters are expected to become the new face of Buk-gu, contributing to establishing it as a pet-friendly city that breaks away from the image of the Gupo Dog Market.

Jo Dae-su, head of the LINC+ Project Group, said, “The Class Selling agreement signed with Busan Buk-gu is very meaningful in terms of nurturing local talent,” adding, “I hope that through the classes, creative characters expressing the regional characteristics of Gupo will be developed to help promote local public policies and revitalize the local economy.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.