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"What are the characteristics of man that differentiate him from an animal?
Are men good or evil?"
The students looked tense after a series of questions by the professor.
The lecture took place at Room No. 436 at the LG-POSCO Management Building at Korea University, Anam-dong, Seongbuk-gu, in Seoul on the 27th. July 2006
The 180 seat capacity lecture room was full of students. The class, Introduction to Psychology, was lead by Professor Paul Bloom (43) of Yale University's Psychology Department. It is one of the most popular classes of the 2006 International Summer School. Professor Bloom is a renowned psychologist; he was given the "Eliner McCoby" award in 2005 by the APA (American Psychological Association).
"In addition to the two text books, there are abundant study materials for this class which includes mpegs and photo materials. It's hard to get lazy here because so many questions are being asked during class," commented LEE Jun-ho (20) of Indiana State University, who attended the lecture.
Globalization of universities is taking place at international summer schools. Up to now, International summer schools mainly taught Korean Culture and Language to Korean students living abroad. However, recently programs have changed. Renowned global scholars have been invited and many students from globally renowned universities are registering.
Some ten universities including Korea University, Ewha Women's University, Yonsei University and Kyunghee University have international summer school programs.
Among these, some 900 students out of which 756 students are enrolled in overseas universities, are taking part in Korea University's International Summer School which began in 2004. Students from some 150 universities from 11 countries are participating in the program. Among them non-Korean students make up 20%. Some 42 professors from renowned overseas universities including Yale, Stanford, and Michigan Universities have been invited for a total of 80 lectures.
Director YEOM Jae-ho (51· Public Administration Department) of the Institute of International Education at Korea University commented, "Korean students are now able to listen to lectures by globally renowned scholars through the International Summer Campus." He further announced that they are inviting twice the number of professors from overseas universities this year.
Ms. Henna Vera Bodenman (20), who is a student at Switzerland's St. Gallen University expressed her high level of satisfaction with the classes offered at Korea University's International Summer School. "I participated in this session to learn about Korean culture. But instead I found students from various different countries studying global culture."
For the first time, Seoul National University also plans to open their summer international school, the "Sejong International Campus" next June. Some 20 professors from renowned U.S. Universities including Harvard, Yale, and Princeton are expected to be invited as lecturers.
Ewha Women's University is holding an "International Summer School" by inviting some 122 students from Ivy League Universities which includes Harvard, Cornell and Yale.
A total of 435 foreign university students are taking part at Yonsei University's "International Summer Session." Its program puts emphasis on various weekly interactive activities including watching Korean movies, Korean cooking, and ceramics classes.
Reported by Dong-Ah Ilbo 07/31/2006
| Summer Sessions Lure More Foreign Students to Korea |
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Students from internationally-recognized universities are coming to Korea to take courses at international summer programs at such Korean schools as Kyung Hee University, Yonsei University, Ewha Womans University and Korea University; these schools have ties with many foreign colleges, allowing students to transfer their credits easily.
The program with the largest student body is the International Summer Campus at Korea University, a six-week program in which domestic and international students can take courses taught in English by international scholars such as Paul Bloom, a psychology professor at Yale University, and Trevor Pinch, a sociology professor at Cornell University. The school pays the professors US$10,000 in addition to travel expenses, and provides free accommodation at its new international house.
Kerk Phillips, an economics professor at Brigham Young University in Utah, is teaching at the international program for the second time. He said the program is a win-win situation both for students and professors. According to Phillips, his lectures at the program are "pretty much the same" as the ones he gives at his home university, except that they are far more compressed, covering what he normally teaches over a semester in only six weeks.
The program, which started as a part of the "Global KU" (Global Korea University) project in 2004 to commemorate the school's 100th anniversary, currently offers around 80 courses in such fields as political science, economics, sociology, science as well as Korean studies. Each class runs for two hours a day, and four days a week. On every Wednesday, students go on field trips to places such as Insa-dong, the Demilitarized Zone or companies like Samsung Electronics. Some also attend special lectures by notable experts in Korea ― this year's speaker, CHIN Dae-je, former Information and Communication Minister, gave a lecture on "Information, Communication and Technology Wonderland, Korea" on July 6. Currently, about 1,200 students from 150 schools in 11 nations are enrolled in the program which started on June 27.
The student body this year is nearly three times larger than last year's. The total number of students from abroad ― overseas Koreans, those born abroad to Korean parents and people with no Korean background ― is around 930, while about 250 students from Korean universities are registered in the program. About 20 percent of students have no Korean background.
"I liked the huge selection of classes that the International Summer Campus offers," said Geoff Kelly, 21, from the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Kelly said that he studied Korean for two semesters and wanted to work more on the Korean language, adding that the trip to Korea, particularly the Demilitarized Zone, was attractive.
Another student, Robert Ings, 21, from Toronto University said "the program itself in theory is a good idea, but I'm finding that it seems to be a party place just for Korean-Americans. Almost everyone I met here is Korean-American". He said that he knows that some of the students at his college without Korean background wanted to come here, but that he was one of the few non-Korean-Americans enrolled in the program. "If [Korea University] really wants to promote itself as being international, they need to do a better filtering job," Mr. Ings added. He said that the course itself was "really good." He is studying East Asian studies and economics; his home college does not offer classes on the Korean economy, which he says he needs.
Not all students come for strictly educational purposes. Kathryn Marie Tully, 22, from Minnesota (USA), was born in Korea but brought up by her adoptive parents in the USA. She said the program is her third visit to Korea, and that this time she wanted to "stay longer than just a vacation" to learn about everyday life in Korea and ultimately to find her birth parents. She was abandoned when she was only a year old, with nothing but a card on which her name was written. "I wanted to experience day-to-day things in Korea and to imagine what my life would have been like [had I continued to live here]," said Ms. Tully.
Students from abroad can take as many as nine credit hours (three classes) in the program and Korean students can take up to six credit hours (two classes). International students pay US$2,680 in tuition, while Korean students pay 400,000 won (US$420) per course. |
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| Different paradigm attracts students: dean |
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Korea University launched its International Summer Campus in 2004. The program had about 280 students in 2004 and 475 in 2005; this year, 1,185 students applied for the program, making it one of the most rapidly growing international summer schools in Korea. YUM Jae-ho, the dean of the Korea University Institute for International Education, said in a recent interview with the JoongAng Daily that the program offers an opportunity for foreign students to have a high-quality education while experiencing Korean culture, and for Korean students who study abroad to expand their social networks in Korea. The following is an extract from the interview:
Q. What do you think made the program grow so fast?
A. Its educational paradigm is different from that of other summer schools in Korea which are focused on Korean studies, mostly targeting gyopo (those born abroad to Korean parents). As a part of the Global KU project, we wanted foreign professors at Ivy League level to come and teach at Korea University over the summer. In order to recruit high-profile scholars, we provide them, I believe, with the best environment, giving them not only a large paycheck but also office space. The quality of our international residence center is also equal to a four-star hotel.
Furthermore, we don't focus on Korean studies only, but on core courses in various fields in order to attract more international students who want to graduate earlier or wish to have overseas experience. We raised the number of classes to 80 this year from 12 last year. In addition, we offer scholarships to qualifying students in order to raise their academic performance. If a student gets an A in all three classes, we grant him or her US$1,000 when they finish the program.
Q: Even though you are saying the program aims to attract more foreign students, students without Korean background make up only 20 percent of the total student body. It doesn't seem very international, does it?
A: I agree that the number of real internationals is very low. We're trying to attract more international students to Korea who might otherwise go to Hong Kong or Singapore during the summer. But that takes time, and the program's first goal is to expand its student body to 2,000 students and the faculty to 100 professors by 2008. After achieving this target, we will focus on diversifying the students' nationalities.
However, this doesn't mean we are only focusing on foreign students who have no Korean background. I think we should also embrace Korean students studying abroad, who are in some way "deserted children." The number of such students is growing and we should do something for them, because they are the ones who will come back to Korea later. At the campus, they can expand their network of relationships in Korea. We also grant students who attend the campus for two consecutive years membership of the alumni association at Korea University, which is beneficial in Korean society. About 10 students will receive membership this year.
In addition, letting regular students at Korea University sit in on courses taught by high-caliber professors is also a way of being international.
Q: I heard that you provide internships for the program's students. Tell me more about the internship program.
A: Before the program starts, we offer selected participants a four-week internship program at Korean organizations and companies. This year, 40 out of 150 applicants got the chance to work at such places as the National Assembly, SK Telecom, KBS, SBS, MBC and Binggeurae. Students, particularly gyopo, like the internship program because the working experience in Korea looks good on their resumes.
Q: What are your future plans?
A: We want the program to be a model for a university network, where students and professors from around the world can meet every summer and hold conferences. If we do that before Hong Kong or Singapore, it would make Korea, and Korea University, the educational hub of Asia.
by Park Sung-ha < sungha@joongang.co.kr > |
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