The Graduate School of International and Area Studies (GSIAS) represents a culmination of the innovative ideas and fresh perspectives generated by its forerunners at HUFS in 1996. GSIAS is one of the leading professional postgraduate school of international and area studies in Korea as well as in Asia. GSIAS has embarked on many ambitious overseas exchange and internship programs with many renowned institutions such as MOFAT, Korea Trade Agency (KOTRA), and a number of domestic and international organizations. In the second half of 2010, GSIAS was selected jointly by the European Union (EU) and MEST to be the leading institute in Korea for the Education Cooperation Program between the EU and Korea for the following three years. In addition, GSIAS has succeeded in collaboration with the Institute for EU Studies in hosting the EU Centre in Korea Project within the University from the European Commission in the same year.

In early 2010 GSIAS created a GSIAS-affiliated think-tank, the Center for International Cooperation and Strategy (CICS). It aims to facilitate policy-relevant research activities and outreach programs. Up to the present, CICS has served as a main hub for the cooperation between HUFS GSIAS and its international partners. As a part of an effort to improve the cooperation with overseas scholars and institutes, CICS puts an efforts to organize international conferences and as a result it had successfully hosted a series of international conference in 2010.

In a rapidly changing world, CICS is striving to play a role as a leading contributor to develop international strategies and policy solutions based on research with competitive experts. CICS is to better meet the dynamic research demand on contemporary global problems and envisioned as being GSIAS"f window to the world.