Launching ceremony of SNU in World program
Over recent decades, the startup industry has become more popular among the public, many of whom are university students. SNU students have been following the booming startup trend according to a SNU survey on undergraduate career awareness that was published this April, one in ten SNU graduating students hope to enter the startup industry. In response to the increase in the number of students interested in startups, SNU has created new programs sending aspiring entrepreneurs to venture cities Shenzhen, China and Silicon Valley, California to receive firsthand experience in a startup environment.
It was announced on May 31 that these new programs will occur every summer and winter starting this winter as part of the SNU in World Program, which sends around 400 students every year to cities such as Washington DC, Beijing, Tokyo, London, Paris, and Berlin for an overseas education experience. Both SNU in Shenzhen and SNU in Silicon Valley will have roughly 50 spots available for students wishing to participate.
During the two- to three-week programs, the students will be able to create their own products. The programs aim to provide a different learning experience to the students by offering them a real-life, physical immersion in a startup environment instead of traditional lecture-based classes that students enroll in standard overseas education courses.
For students travelling to Shenzhen, they will be able to work with successful startup companies such as Alibaba, Xiaomi, and DJI, some of China’s fastest growing digital distributors. The students will be able to manufacture their products at Hua Chang Bei Electronics Market, one of the world’s leading and largest electronics market, and will have the opportunity to listen to various startup experts. The students travelling to Silicon Valley will have a similar experience to those students in Shenzhen by consulting with Korean startup entrepreneurs working at successful IT companies in California.
According to LEE Woo Il, SNU Vice President of Research, “Although the interest for the startup industry is high, students have not yet had many opportunities for a global startup experience. Even though students will only spend a short amount of time in China and the United States, this experience hopefully will increase their passion for startups.”
Written by Yu Young Jin, SNU English Editor, coin1234@snu.ac.kr
Reviewed by Professor Travis Smith, Department of Asian Languages and Civilizations, tlsmith@snu.ac.kr