Gwangju Seo-gu, First Local Government to Receive 'Lifelong Education ISO 9001' Certification

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Shin Dong-ho] Seo-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City (Mayor Seo Dae-seok) has become the first local government nationwide to obtain ISO 9001 certification for lifelong education operations from the Korea Productivity Center Certification Institute.

According to Seo-gu on the 22nd, 'ISO 9001' is an international standard for quality management systems established and implemented by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), representing a quality assurance system covering the entire production process from products to services.

Seo-gu was selected for the Gwangju Lifelong Education Promotion Agency public project and received budget support to promote the project. As a result, it was able to receive this international certification, and using this certification as an opportunity, it created lifelong education operation manuals and standards to establish an environment where work can be carried out systematically and efficiently.

Following its selection as a lifelong learning city leading the construction of learning communities under the Ministry of Education in 2015, it was re-designated last year.

In 2017, the lifelong learning center was established, providing education to about 1,000 residents annually. Eleven Happy Learning Centers were selected by region to lay the foundation for enjoying lifelong learning close to residents' homes. There are plans to expand and develop this into 18 district Happy Learning Centers in the future.

This year, Seo-gu is accelerating the creation of a non-face-to-face lifelong education infrastructure environment by investing 100 million KRW in budget to revamp the Seo-gu Lifelong Learning Center website for easy access to various video lectures, install a real-time video education system, and build a mobile app (Baeumnet).

A Seo-gu official said, "We hope that Seo-gu will develop into a representative lifelong learning city nationwide through this ISO 9001 certification."

Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Shin Dong-ho sdhs6751@asiae.co.kr