SM Entertainment is currently preparing to open a school. The dubbed "K-Pop International School" is expected to open this September.
All Kpop reports that SM Entertainment will be opening up a school to be named the "K-Pop International School". The Korean entertainment giant's school will help its students to become future celebrities.
In a report last year by the Chosun Ilbo, SM Entertainment will be partnering up with Jongro Academy, a crammer school. SM Entertainment and Jongro Academy said that they wanted to nurture global cultural talent inside the school, since there is current growing worldwide interest in in Korean culture and pop music. SM Entertainment will be handling the artistic curriculum, while Jongro Academy will take care of the academic subjects.
SM Entertainment's school will LITERALLY be a school - where middle and high school curriculum will be implemented. Aside from teaching students English, Korean, and Mathematics, the school will also be teaching them music, dance, set decoration, and many others. In the 300 to 400 students planned to be accommodated in the school, SM Entertainment plans to have 70 percent of it to have foreign students.
"Foreign students" include Chinese youngsters. Since K-pop is quite popular in China, SM Entertainment will be expecting large numbers of Chinese student to enroll in the international school.
SM Entertainment's international school will also be integrating subjects. For example: In a talent factory, students that are taking up singing and dancing training will be disturbed since they still have academics to do. This will not be a problem in the "K-Pop International School", since the company plans to integrate the activities seamlessly.
Unfortunately, the school will not be getting full accreditation. This means that when students finish inside the international school, they will still have to take high school equivalency exams.
If SM Entertainment's "K-Pop International School" becomes a success, the company along with Jongro Academy will be opening selected branches abroad.
