Modern society is witnessing the rapid expansion of knowledge and information, while simultaneously many individuals are becoming ever more focused on gaining specialist knowledge within a limited area. This is a potentially critical problem, and can limit the creativity and inventiveness of future leaders in each disciplinary subject.

Our liberal arts education aims to establish a cultural balance to address these issues. KAIST is a science and engineering institution of higher education where many students are admitted early. This is undoubtedly a positive factor that maximizes the efficiency of science and engineering education, but at the same time can result in a college experienced focused only on specific disciplines instead of developing a foundation for an extensive understanding of human beings and society.

The School of Digital Humanities and Computational Social Sciences (DHCSS) is working to complement these specialties with intellectual and disciplinary diversity, and produce healthy and happy science and engineering students who have an appreciation of the richness of society and culture and a human-centered sense of open-mindedness.

DHCSS offers over 400 liberal arts courses for approximately 10,000 students, consisting of liberal arts electives (essay writing, English, sports, character leadership, ethics and safety, volunteering), humanities and social sciences electives (humanities, social sciences, literature and arts), and self-designed electives.

The goal of DHCSS is to produce creative science and technology students through interdisciplinary education. To this end, DHCSS focuses on education that cultivates insights into humans, society, art and nature; intellectual abilities; develops creative problem-solving abilities and communication skills; strengthens compassionate leadership as members of social communities; and develops the ability to ensure systematic criticism of academic issues.

DHCSS endeavors to develop courses to strengthen education in humanities, social sciences, liberal arts and English, nurture cooperation among departments to facilitate interdisciplinary research in humanities, social sciences and arts, expand its interaction with other universities in the area of humanities and social sciences, and attract outstanding faculty members in humanities, social sciences, economics, politics, and media. It is also bolstering education for understanding the Korean language and culture for an increasing number of international students.