Seoul National University President LEE Jang-moo has said SNU will launch a mentoring program whereby 10,000 SNU scholarship students will offer guidance once a week to school children from low-income families.

SNU plans to hire 1,000 staff and executives laid off by private businesses as visiting professors, researchers and teaching assistants, and select another 1,000 to 2,000 laid-off workers for job training programs. LEE said the programs are part of SNU’s efforts to find new roles as Korea suffers worse economic turmoil than the Asian financial crisis, a drive by the university to become what he called a “social companion.”

KIM Sun-dong, the former chairman of S-Oil, donated W3.5 billion (US$1=W1,395) to a scholarship fund in September last year, saying it was imperative for society to stop poverty being handed down from one generation to another.

The SNU Mentoring Program means that 70 SNU students who get a W10 million scholarship a year from Kim's fund will in turn offer guidance to five elementary, middle and high school students per person once a week.
Following an in-house evaluation, the mentoring program has now been expanded to 10,000 scholarship students at SNU. The scholarship students get to experience the gift of sharing by helping youngsters marginalized by society, and children whose families are too poor to afford private lessons get to study with high achievers and have a chance to dream of a better future.

SNU is preparing a wide range of programs for staff laid off by private businesses, as well as job training and internship opportunities.

The ample practical experience of workers and executives can help reinvigorate university education, and job training for the unemployed is an area where the government can use some help. If SNU with its ample facilities and personnel offer tailor-made training programs to laid-off workers, it can be a great help in rebuilding their lives.

Jan. 29. 2009
SNU PR Office