◆ The 23rd Ewha Voice Essay Contest Winners ◆

The Making Of A "Global" University: What The President Should Do
Park Hwan-hee
(English Lang. & Lit., 3)

     In today's globalized world, universities are no exception in the battle to achieve international competitiveness. Therefore, the chief administrator must promote the school internationally, give satisfaction to its members, and most importantly, communicate effectively with different groups related to the university.
    First of all, the president of a university must promote the school in many different ways. The college entrance exam score may work as an effective barometer in defining the school's quality inside Korea, but it would not mean much in the international stage. So the president must think of another way to promote the school's quality and competency. Making good homepages with lots of visual materials of the university would be a way since the Internet enables one to reach any websites from anywhere. Holding international conferences and seminars at the university would be another way. But the best way would be to expand the school's international exchange student and exchange professor programs, both in the number of the students and professors sent out, and in the number of the countries that they are being sent to. If many predominant students and professors of a university are spread worldwide and show excellent achievements, the image and the competitiveness of the university will rise dramatically.
     What is more important in making the school a truly competitive one is by satisfying the key consumers, the students. Most university students are burdened and unsatisfied because what they get from the school seems to be less than the high tuition. A good administrator would provide more scholarship and other ways of financial support. Also, the president could improve the quality of the lectures by extending student evaluation on courses and hiring academically renowned professors. Improving the "hardware" of education, for example, the classroom environment and facilities, library facilities and student welfare organization are just some examples.
     Another group for the administrator to satisfy is the faculty. By providing financial support and creating desirable environment on researching and lecturing, the administrator would be able to satisfy them.
     When students and professors get what they want, each group will pay back in their own way, either by making excellent academic achievement, or by feeling content about the school and promoting positive aspects of the university.
     Lastly, and most importantly, a president of a university must consider effective communication. Communication is the way one can identify the problem and draw out a solution. It is also needed for effective administration, because the labor must be divided between many other staffs since the president cannot possibly take care of all work.
     Communication with students and professors is also important in order to find out what is needed. Although it is impossible to meet the needs of each individual student or professor, it would be possible to collect the general opinion and communicate with the representatives of different groups. Even though Korean universities and students generally tend to be confronted with each other in many situations, the representatives of the school and the students will be able to draw out a reasonable solution by staying open to conversations.
     Also needed is communication with local inhabitants. By communicating with the locals, it will be possible to establish what kind of role a university should fill in the modern society, which will help to decide its role in the global village, too.
    The sole effort of one good administrator will not be enough to increase the international competitiveness of a university. Each and every member of the university must work as a whole to become global. The president, as the official leader of the university group, must take care to successfully promote the school to the world and to increase the inner satisfaction of the university. Besides these two, the core of the president's job will be to prepare and lead open and effective communication with different groups inside and outside the university.

Forming A "World" Inside Campus
Choi Han-nah
(Medicine, 1)

     A magnet was the first "magical" object that Melaquiades and his gypsies brought to Macondo, a small village in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. Through such reformation, the future promised the village a fortune through trade. Similarly, competing internationally requires participants to adapt to new influences and finally stand with a solidified individuality. The role of university being the same, in order to heighten the school's international competitiveness, a president must form a "world" inside the campus.
     Forming a "world" inside a campus can be realized through four main ways. Studying in small classes would be one way to give more opportunities to foster one's individuality. Hiring more competent and foreign professors would be another way. The third way is admitting more foreign students, in more varied majors. Studying in an international atmosphere cannot but be effective to native students as it really helps them avoid having myopic points of view. Constantly improving school facilities is the last way the school can proliferate internationally. Many students feel a limit in expanding their spectrum of knowledge due to lack of equipment.
     Raising the level of students abilities and widening their perspectives is a way to raise the school's competence. It is students that compose universities and not the school buildings. Also, learning from successful universities is different from imitating them, in that learning is necessary to fortify one's own grounds. If students learn new things and adapt to them, they would surely learn to make their own "magnets," thereby not only winning in the international competition but also revolutionizing the globe with their own brilliant uniqueness.

The Role Of The Student-Run Media
Yoon Sae-bom
(International Studies, 1)

     In a world of infinite conflicting opinions, the media has taken upon the imperative yet impossible task of delegating everyday life. This proves true in all areas of society, whether it be aimed at the general public or at a more targeted audience ­ university students. They explore the in-depth coverage of what happened yesterday, dictate the details of what is happening today, and predict the possible outcomes of what will happen in the near future. As the predominant source of media in universities, student-run newspapers serve a variety of purposes, from stimulating intellectual conversation on campus to providing for training ground for those willing to work in the media in the present and future.
     The main role of the student-run newspaper, as mediums of free expression, is to promote the creation of ideas and knowledge by allowing the student body to consider diverse views on every question. They make sure that all its readers have the ability to make informed decisions on any given subject. Student newspapers also seek to engage different members of the university community in participation and debate. Newspapers allow readers to debate the issues and ideas that are important to them. Newspapers also play a vital role as a vehicle of communication between students and university authorities: at times the media, as a representative of the voice of students, must stand up against authority figures when they feel the rights of their readers have been infringed upon. In this sense, newspapers don? seek to change the world; they simply work to make sure that no one is denied claim to the right to know. To violate this right defeats the purpose of having a newspaper in the first place.

School Of Rock
Lee So-jung
(Liberal Arts, 1)

     My university should rock the whole world. There was a time when a diploma from a prestigious unversity could pave one's life with fame and fortune. In this globalized era and society, producing a universal star should be its focus.
     The standardized exams as the main admission criteria disable the school to accept students on their special merits­say creativity or other talents. As a result, the school produces students molded through a cookie cutter. Therefore, subjective standard by the university should be activated in order to sort out the "anti-social bookworms," the leading factor in the rigidity of academic climate.
     To allow the opportunities for the students, transferring from one major to another must become flexible. An easier acceptance by majors of the newly interested students would provide the fertile soil for the students to gain accessibility to professional knowledge, maximizing their competitiveness in a global scale.
     Competence ultimately equals the originality of thoughts. The mutual feedback between the professors and the students needs to avoid "recycling" of the old ideas but to create new ones. To not become the academic Sodom by hiring the alumi excessively, the university should aggressively pursue to hire the faculty who would participate in the complete metamorphosis of the school.
     School of rock is what it is. This "rocking" is greatly needed in this suffocating stiffness in the academic. Along with the advent of the era of diversity, flexibility, and originality, everyone should be rocking on his/her own stage. And I want my school to be full of those beautiful rockers who rock in the classroom, seminars, conferences and ultimately in every arena in the world. Making songs out of their unlimited potential and captivating everyone at their show with irresistable charm is truly what I want to see in the near future of my school.