Twelve representatives from the SNU International Students Association (SISA) met with executives including President Lee Jang-Moo to propose amendments to policies regarding foreign students. This discussion led to general agreements on the following points:
"No Freedom of Major Choice?"
A freshman at the College of Social Sciences, Ooi Xim Ying from Malaysia, appealed regarding the intrinsic difficulty foreign students face in choosing a major. The College of Social Sciences has a system in which students take introductory courses of majors of interest to them and according to their GPA, and their choice, they are assigned a major. The problem is that all introductory courses are conducted in Korean in consideration of Korean freshmen; foreign students who are not familiar with the language cannot expect to receive sufficient grades. Consequently, this leads to even the postponement of having a major because foreign students take introductory classes in their second or third year when their Korean is better. Ooi Xim Ying said that she came all the way from Malaysia to study international relations but now he/she might actually have to enter an entirely different field of study.
President Lee said that he realized that the policy which has been implemented to enable students to choose their majors freely has ironically imposed unfairness on foreign students; he has ordered
"We Want to Study Abroad Too"
Seoul National University currently offers the Study Abroad Program with its active academic exchange with more than 700 universities around the world. Students enjoy the opportunity to experience learning in foreign countries at a cheaper expense. Unfortunately, however, foreign students studying here at SNU are not eligible to apply for the program. The reason has been that students who are originally from abroad were thought to not need another chance to study in a foreign country. Zohid from Uzbekistan proposed that this restriction be lifted, citing that “foreign students should also get more global experiences.”
President Lee has ordered amendments to the current system, recognizing the problem with such a limitation. Yet, Dilshod, the president of SISA, questioned whether foreign students could actually get the chance to study abroad even if they were permitted to apply as the selection process of the current Study Abroad Program is based on GPA.
"More Classes in English, Please"
All the foreign students in attendance complained about the small number of classes conducted in English. Hwangtonamal, from Mongolia, observed that even in departments like “International Relations,” classes are taught in Korean despite the fact that reading materials are in English.
Currently, the number of English-medium classes varies vastly among different departments and colleges. President Lee said that more and more of such classes will be offered continuously. SNU has implemented the policy of exemption from some requirements for Korean professors when they teach English-Only classes; while in the past three years, almost 80 new foreign professors have been hired. President Lee revealed that hiring foreign professors to constitute up to 30% of the faculty is the goal SNU is pursuing in its course of internationalization.
"English-version MySNU"
The administration of the university is mostly conducted through the online system called MySNU. Most school services, such as checking grades and applying for scholarships, are accessible on this website. Gobong, from China, said that “although a very convenient system, foreign students are having difficulty utilizing it because it is only in Korean, and pleaded for the establishment of an English-language portal system.
"Financial Aid by Need'
Most scholarships at Seoul National University are awarded to students with high achievements reflected in their GPA. Foreign students asked for more financial aid given on the basis of need.
Building Alumni Network
A discussion about creating foreign alumni associations began toward the end of the meeting. Although there are already many foreign students who have graduated from Seoul National University, the social network among them has been known to be minimal. The manager of the Office of Student Affairs, Jang Jae-Sung, excited by the thought that a global network of SNU graduates could be established, encouraged the students to actively implement such a network.
At the end of the hour-and-a-half session, President Lee Jang-Moo accepted the fact that the university has missed some points of importance to foreign students in the process of internationalizing rapidly. He promised to do his best to make SNU even better for foreign students by expanding its services.
May 12, 2010
Written by Mooni KIM, SNU English Editor