For freshmen, understanding their curriculum requirements and learning to construct their own timetable are tasks that must be accomplished in the start of the first semester. To help students develop the ability to create their own schedules that meet the curriculum requirements, the school organizes a course registration orientation for freshmen prior to the actual course registration date. However, this is not the case for foreign students.
This year, the freshman course registration period was from Feb. 22 to Feb. 23, while the foreign student orientation was held on Feb. 25, two days after the course registration period. On this day, foreign freshmen students were taught how to register for courses, among which Liberal Arts courses were mandatory and much more.
To foreigners like Hu Fanxi, who enrolled in Economics this year, the entire course registration manual is just too much.
“I think the most critical change the school should adopt is to arrange the foreign student orientation before the registration period,” Hu said. “That way, we will have a better understanding of what classes we should register for during the first registration period.”
As a result, during the first course registration period, Hu, like many other foreign students, chose classes that were too difficult for her.
“I think the most critical change the school should adopt is to arrange the foreign student orientation before the registration period,” Hu said. “That way, we will have a better understanding of what classes we should register for during the first registration period.”
However, that solution may not be as simple as it seems.
“Regarding the orientation date, there are many things that we have to take into consideration,” said a correspondent in the OIA. “We try to adjust the schedule to best fit the majority’s immigration dates, because these time schedules are tightly bound to the student’s finances as well. We also schedule the orientation after the moving day of the school dormitory.”
The OIA explained that although there may still be room for improvement, the OIA has been constantly working to better support foreign students.
“For instance, we have expanded the number of majors that provide separate orientations for foreign students,” the OIA said. “This way, we are able to take time to explain the specifics of each major to the students in detail.”
Also, the OIA recruited several foreign students who went through the same distress in their freshman year to help foreigners with the course registration. These students spend time in the OIA office and the ECC to help students who come with inquiries about their registration process.
“Because the foreign students know more about which course is better for foreigners, this new process works out very well,” the correspondent said.
At the orientation, the students were told not to worry, that they could adjust their selected courses during the registration confirmation and change period from March 3 to March 9. However, due to the nature of the change period, foreign students have to compete for courses that have not yet reached capacity. Thus, foreign students have difficulty registering for the mandatory classes and courses with high popularity. The OIA, aware of such difficulties, encouraged students to go seek the professor in person to ask for expanding the enrollment capacity.
Every year, more and more foreign students enroll in Ewha. This year, 130 foreign students enrolled, 17 percent higher than last year. As the campus expands into a more globalized community, the school has constantly been making appropriate changes, such as opening more English lectures.
“As I have said before, the OIA is a dynamic workplace, and providing better support for foreign students is in our best interest,” the OIA said. “I hope that our constant actions can help more students, and students will actively use the OIA for their needs.”