SNU and UCLA (the University of California, LA) have agreed to exchange five students every year starting next year.

KIM Jun Ki, head of the Office of International Affairs, visited five UC universities last January one by one to suggest establishing student exchange programs, and succeeded in reaching an agreement with the prestigious UCLA. This is SNU’s 12th agreement on student exchange with a US university, and the first among UC universities.

UCLA was the first foreign university to sign an academic exchange agreement with SNU in 1983, and has maintained that relationship ever since.

The news that a UCLA exchange program will be offered excited SNU students.

KIM Eun Young, an SNU junior majoring in economics, who came back to SNU after completing an internship at the Korean embassy in the United States, said that “exchange programs are good chances to study at foreign universities at a low cost, and students prefer nations where English is used for practical reasons.” She predicted that “many students will apply for the exchange program with UCLA.”

KIM Mooni, an SNU sophomore majoring in international relations, who grew up in the US, said that “exchange programs have more meaning as a way of experiencing foreign life, rather than as a chance to study there,” and that “the program will give students good experiences since the weather in California is nice and it is a good place to travel around.”

KIM Bo Mi (an SNU student of business administration who will graduate soon) went to Frankfurt as an exchange student with the support of a corporate scholarship. She said, “I am sorry that I will graduate from SNU without having had the chance to go to such a prestigious foreign university” and that “the conversations I had with a Mexican roommate in Germany changed my life. I hope that opportunities to go abroad as an exchange student will be increased so that more SNU students can experience a ‘fresh shock that changes life’.”

The Office of International Affairs has reached a positive agreement on student exchange with other UC universities including Davis, Irvine, San Diego, and Santa Barbara. The number of SNU students going to California as exchange students is now expected to greatly increase.

Written by PARK Ziho, SNU English Editor, snuitsm2@snu.ac.kr   ?
Proofread by Brett Johnson