University festivals in South Korea are back and more alive than ever in 2022 after a 2-year long pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While there were various attempts over the years at keeping the spirit of university life aglow through online events, being able to physically attend a large festival just hits different!

The once-barren campus foyers were transformed into bustling festival grounds decked with student-led booths, food trucks and a full-out concert stage. Students filled up every inch of the space, with several even waiting in line since the early morning to catch the highly anticipated lineup for the night.

Campus festivals are not just for fun but to also rally up the school spirit by chanting school cheers with your peers - and if you’ve ever gotten a taste of what that’s like here, you’d know that students don’t hold back when it comes to celebrating school pride.

Daedongje: A Festival for Unity

University festivals in South Korea are called ‘Daedongje,’ loosely meaning ‘a festival for unity,’ where the entire student body celebrates school pride and campus culture as one community.

While Daedongje is usually held in the late spring month of May, universities in the city of Gwangju hold theirs in September instead, and for good reason! If you know, you know - but if you don’t, no worries, find out what happened in Gwangju in the month of May here:

For many artists who would be taking to university stages, performing for this spring’s campus festivals marks their official return to offline events as the worst of the pandemic is now behind us. So, of course, everyone was determined to make up for it with some of the most memorable performances ever!

Here’s a quick recap of what went down at this year’s Daedongje:

Korea University

This SKY university’s Seoktap Daedongje was held at their Democratic Plaza in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, from May 23 to May 26.

A moment that definitely caused a stir was singer-songwriter BIBI’s sensual performance on May 24 with a male student who was voluntarily picked out from the crowd. As she sang her song, ‘Best Lover,’ she danced around the student and even gave him a peck on the cheek at the end of the performance. Some people thought it was slightly inappropriate for a campus event, but others enjoyed the fan service and simply had a great time.

Arguably one of the most talked-about universities for campus festivals every year, Korea University never fails to boast a star-studded line-up and showcase its wild school pride. As the cherry-on-top to the week-long festival, the 43rd Ipselenti concert stage was graced by household names like PSY, (G)I-DLE, and Red Velvet alongside hip hop artists Jay Park, Sik-K, pH-1 and the winning team of the recent hit dance show Street Woman Fighter, Holy Bang.

PSY also remains South Korea’s reigning King of Festivals, and there is a reason why. His stage presence knocked people off their feet (quite literally, as everyone in the crowd was jumping!) with an energetic performance of ‘That That,’ his latest song featuring and produced by BTS’ rapper SUGA.

Hanyang University

The private university held its Daedongje called ‘Rachios’ from May 25 to May 27, with special MCs Park Ji-hoo and Yoon Chan-young creating a buzz following their success on the 12-part South Korean Netflix series ‘All of Us Are Dead.’

Both the actress and actor are currently students at Hanyang University’s Department of Theater and Film, with Ji-hoo being a freshman who’d just entered this spring semester and Chan-young, who entered the school in 2020, being on leave of absence to focus on his acting career.

Other than that, SM Entertainment’s latest girl group aespa also began trending online for their member Winter’s adorable pigtails hairstyle. Winter’s appearance at Hanyang received an explosive response on online communities and her fancams alone for that night have accumulated over a million views on YouTube.

Other honourable mentions for this year’s Daedongje include Jessi’s performances at both Cheongju and Youngnam University this year - who can resist singing along to the viral song ‘Zoom’ when Jessi herself is right in front of your eyes?

Not only that but Sungkyunkwan University’s Eskara was held earlier in the month and their lineup included performances by boy group WINNER and up-and-coming STAYC girls. Students at the festival left with bragging rights that night as WINNER sang their popular numbers including ‘Really Really’ and ‘Island’ while STAYC got the crowd wild with their catchy hit song ‘ASAP’.

Unfortunately, Yonsei University’s Akaraka, among many others, has been announced for this coming September instead, so while they weren’t part of this festival season there’s definitely something to look forward to!

So what did you think about this year’s Daedongje? Isn’t it just something else? If this is not already a reason for you to fly over to South Korea to make your study abroad dreams come true, then I don’t know what else could be!

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Writer: Gloria Ho Yong Jean

Editor: Han (O.L)

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