Fourteen European countries gathered at the Isangbong Hall at Ewha to participate in an exposition and recruitment fair called Study & Research in Europe 2010. The event, held on May 13, was supported by the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Korea, The Europe-Korea Foundation and Ewha Womans University. Students, scholars, and others interested in European universities took this opportunity to gain detailed information.
As more and more people are taking interest in studying abroad in Europe, the number of European scholars and professors is increasing. The International Studies Graduate Department are viewing this phenomenon in a positive way as they are keen on helping out students who are interested in studying abroad at Europe. It is expected that this event will bring positive effects to both students and the European countries.
“The managers of this event were deeply impressed with the grand amount of space that Ewha had and the vast preparations we had planned for this event, as Ewha is trying and planning on establishing an EU center here,” said Thomas Kalinowski, the EU center manager.
The program started with cultural events. Participants were provided drinks and snacks while KHMA jazz ensemble performed. A Europe quiz and survey followed, where two winners received flight tickets to Europe.
Brian McDonald, Ambassador for the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Korea, and Zi Hong-min, the head of the Office of Global Affairs, made congratulatory speeches.
A video of students asking questions on Europe as a study destination, produced by the Ewha Woman’s University Broadcasting System was shown and general updates and an introduction to the Bologna Process and Erasmus Mundus programme were given.
The Bologna Process plans to create a European Higher Education Area by 2010, in which students can transfer credit from a wide range of high quality courses.
“The main element of the plan is the introduction of a two-cycle study system consisting of Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees with comparable qualifications throughout Europe,” said Eunmi Postma, the Director of Nuffic Neso Korea.
The Erasmus Mundus programme is a European cooperation and mobility program that sets goals in strengthening international links to higher education by supporting master’s courses through which students from outside Europe can purse postgraduate study at European universities, and especially looks forward to cooperating with countries that aren’t linked to the EU. In 2009, a total of 22,391 students applied for the program and 7,473 students were selected. From South Korea, 47 students applied for the position and 25 got in.
Country Presentations followed up. The Republic of Czech, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom each gave a presentation.
Another presentation on career development: job and internship ended the first parallel session. The second parallel session consisted of simultaneous expositions and counseling opportunities at tables set up by each participating country.
“Usually many Koreans tend to pick the United States as a study destination. Today after attending this event, I found out that there are a lot of opportunities in European countries as well, so it was quite interesting,” said Kim Sang-hyup (Yonsei, 3).
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