The building of I-House, the dormitory mainly used by exchange students.  Photo by Heo Sol.
The building of I-House, the dormitory mainly used by exchange students. Photo by Heo Sol.

 

Ewha Residence has cancelled most room assignments for the 2020 spring semester, as the school has decided to run classes online for the rest of the semester. While Ewha Residence will allow students taking certain offline classes to reside in the dormitory, the delay in announcing guidelines has left some students in confusion.


Although the school provides online classes throughout the whole semester, it will allow certain courses such as laboratory classes to run offline starting from May 4. With this announcement, the dormitory also permitted students with certain requirements to enter the dormitory starting early May. To be permitted for residence, students must take offline courses such as laboratory, training or practical classes. The offline courses they take must receive an approval from the dean of respective colleges and the exact date of entry is to be announced later.


However, some students who planned to go on teaching practicums this semester are expressing concerns.


“I was planning to go to teaching practices at a school nearby Ewha instead of a school near my parents’ place,” said a senior at the College of Education. “As my home is far from Ewha, I am not sure what I should do without a place to stay during teaching practice.”


She further commented that it would be helpful if the school included students going to teaching practicums in the list of acceptable exceptional cases.


When Ewha Voice contacted Ewha Residence about the matter, they replied that they are trying to make things work out.


“If teaching practicums are listed on the school’s training or practical courses, students will definitely be permitted to stay in the dormitory,” said Nam Seok-jin, a manager of Ewha Residence.


Nam said that they are also considering the possibility of students not being able to attend teaching practices. As elementary, middle, and high schools decided to run online classes for a while, it is unsure whether students will be able to go to teaching practicums.


When asked about how Ewha Residence is preparing guidelines for students, they replied that they are still working on them.


“As we don’t work separately from the rest of the school, we have to work with other teams to come up with guidelines,” Nam said. “It is not that we aren’t working on this matter, but there too many complex issues intertwined that we have not yet provided concrete plans or guidelines.”


As the school announced that professors can run makeup classes until July 3, which is a week later than the official end of this semester, the dormitory plans to allow students to stay until that date if they take courses with offline classes.


With the new measures of Ewha Residence, I-House, the dormitory mainly used by exchange students, also stopped receiving students from April. As of April 3, there are about 70 exchange students living in I-House. However, Nam said that the number of residents might decrease as some might head back to their home country due to online courses being run throughout this semester.


Ewha Voice met an exchange student currently residing in I-House to hear about how the atmosphere of the dormitory is.


“The atmosphere is really dead I would say,” said Jens Ven Der Duym, an exchange student from the Netherlands majoring in international business and languages. “On some floors, there is only one person.”


Amid the coronavirus pandemic and the school running all courses online, Ewha Residence is currently working to come up with further concrete guidelines.

저작권자 © Ewha Voice 무단전재 및 재배포 금지