Home > National > K-campus

Goodbye summer, hello fall festivals. Which acts are performing at a university near you?

Published: 02 Sep. 2025, 16:08

LEE TAE-HEE
[email protected]

Students enjoy Sungkyunkwan University's Eskara fall festival held between Sept. 26 and 27 in 2024. [SUNGKYUNKWAN UNIVERSITY]

University students are back on campus for the fall semester — but there's still room for fun as the fall festival season is just around the corner.

May is when universities host their spring festivals, with booths to check out and K-pop performances to enjoy.

But that isn't the only time of the year when students can see big name singers performing at their campuses. Many universities also host fall festivals throughout September and early October.

If the hectic back-to-school season is keeping you too busy to keep track of which singers are performing where, the Korea JoongAng Daily has compiled the artist lineups for you.

Catholic Kwandong University

A poster for Catholic Kwandong University's fall festival [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Catholic Kwandong University is one of the universities hosting their fall festivals early, holding its event on Tuesday and Wednesday.

On the first day, singers Maktub and Ryu Minhee, as well as girl group H1-KEY will perform. On the second day, singers Kwon Eun-bi, Woodz and Rosanna will be performing.

The area in front of the stage will be designated as a viewing area only for Catholic Kwandong University students who have paid their student council fees. Those who aren't the university's students and those who haven't paid their fees will only be able to enjoy performances in the designated areas on either side of or behind the student-only sections.

A special event offering a scholarship will be held for students on the first day. One student — chosen from those who leave a comment on Made in Heaven's Instagram, Maktub's agency, and attend the singer's performance — will be offered a one-time scholarship payment of 1 million won ($720). The singer will be giving the prize to the selected student during the festival.

KAIST

KAIST will be holding the KAIST Arts and Music Festival on Friday and Saturday at its campus in Daejeon.

On Friday, performances by singers will start at 7 p.m. with bands X909 and Broccoli, You Too? Singer Choi Yu-ree will then take the stage, followed by band Crying Nut and singer Woodz. Saturday's performance will also start at 7 p.m. with singer 1000°, bands Redoor, Broken Valentine and NELL performing.

The university will set up a KAIST zone closer to the stage, which will be for the university students who have paid student council fees for the previous spring semester. KAIST students who haven't paid student council fees can also pay on site to enter the student area. A general viewing zone for nonstudents will be set up in the back.

Sungkyunkwan University

A poster for Sungkyunkwan University's fall festival held on Sept. 11 and 12. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Sungkyunkwan University's Natural Sciences Campus will host the Eskara fall festival on Sept. 11 and 12.

Singer Jisun from the group LOVeHOLiC and girl group Apink will be performing on the first day. On the second day, hip-hop group Dynamic Duo, girl groups Fifty Fifty and ITZY, bands Lucy, Nerd Connection and Cherry Filter, and Jay Park will take the stage.

While performances on the first day can be enjoyed without tickets, the second day will require attendees to have tickets to enter the viewing area.

Sungkyunkwan University students will be able to sign up for student tickets between Monday and Friday via Eskara's Instagram. Student tickets are free and allow early entry into the performance viewing area, starting 10 a.m.

Performances will take place at the Large Playground, which can accommodate up to 25,000 people. Viewing spots will be allocated to both the university's students and nonstudents. Students who couldn't reserve tickets can get tickets on-site for free and enter starting 2 p.m., while nonstudents will have to pay a small fee — which hasn't been announced yet — and enter starting 3 p.m.

Before the Eskara festival, the Natural Sciences Campus' student council will also host a cheering event with students on Friday at 7 p.m. The event will be open to 500 Sungkyunkwan University students, with the school's Kingo Cheerleaders teaching the university cheers.

Korea University

The Hi! Ipselenti for Alumni festival poster [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Korea University will be hosting the Hi! Ipselenti for Alumni festival on Sept. 27. The festival will be a special alumni-edition of its annual Ipselenti spring festival, which is exclusively open for the university's students.

Various artists will be performing, including boy groups Boynextdoor and CNBlue, girl groups Fifty Fifty, fromis_9 and RapidEye, and veteran groups such as g.o.d. Ballad duo MeloMance, as well as Tiger JK, Yoonmirae and BIBI will also take the stage.

Although officially referred to as an alumni festival, it isn't difficult for current students to watch performances. Korea University's graduate school students as well as university alumni and faculty are able to purchase general tickets for Hi! Ipselenti for Alumni via Melon Ticket. While most university festivals are free, the alumni Ipselenti will be a paid concert with general tickets sold for 77,000 won.

Undergraduate students were initially not allowed to purchase tickets, but 5,000 special tickets have been reserved for undergraduate students and are being sold for 38,500 won.

More coming up

More universities are set to hold their fall festivals throughout September, also featuring popular K-pop groups.

Sungshin Women's University will hold its Sujeong Daedongjae on Sept. 18 and 19.

Although the university is yet to announce who will perform, blackout silhouette photos of artists and their song lyrics as emojis have been uploaded to the general student council's Instagram to give hints.

Hints of the artists that will be performing at Sungshin Women's University's fall festival uploaded to the student council Instagram [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Performers haven't been officially announced yet, but students are anticipating ILLIT, as one of the photos uses the group's teaser image released for the third EP "bomb" with emojis hinting at the lyrics of the song "Almond Chocolate." Another highly anticipated K-pop group is fromis_9, with the student council using a silhouette photo of the girl group's teaser image released for the sixth EP "From Our 20’s" and emojis suggesting lyrics for "Stay This Way" (2022).

Gwangju University's general student council also uploaded hints about which artists will be performing during their fall festival on Sept. 25 in the form of silhouette images on their Instagram account.

Hints of artists that will be performing at Gwangju University's fall festival on Sept. 25 [SCREEN CAPTURE]

The performers will officially be announced via the general student council's Instagram on Sept. 10.

Kookmin University will be holding its fall festival between Sept. 16 and 18. Hints about the performing artists were also uploaded to the student council's Instagram in the form of a word search puzzle.

Kyung Hee University will hold its fall festival, dubbed Masterpiece: Holiday, on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1.

As the festival is held in late September, K-pop idol performances are also yet to be announced. However, the university student council is accepting applications from students that wish to perform by Sept. 10 and student bands that wish to join a university-run band competition by Sept. 11.

Seoul National University will hold its festival between Sept. 16 and 18. Student-run booths and performances will be offered during the first two days, with singers mostly performing during the closing ceremony held on the last day.

Hanyang University's fall festival will be held between Sept. 17 and 19. Although the fall festival used to be a two-day event held at the amphitheater, this year's event will be held for three days at the bigger track and field area.

Chung-Ang University will hold its festival, called C:Autumn, between Sept. 17 and 19.

BY LEE TAE-HEE [[email protected]]