Lectures from Professionals Boost Students Satisfaction
In response to demands from both students and industry for better job preparation, this year several universities are expanding their program of lectures by executives from various enterprises.
Beginning this semester, the Ewha Career Development Center (CDC) is offering a Leadership Training course consisting of special lectures by business leaders and start on Employment Mentoring class where students will be able to study face-to-face with executives from major corporations. The main theme of the Leadership Training class will be "How to build leadership skills as a woman in the global era." For the Employment Mentoring class, managers from companies such as BHP Korea, Boston Consulting, Deloitte Consulting, L'Oreal, Samsung Card, and SK Telecom will all contribute their time and know-how.
Cho Ri-ra (Library and Information Science, 2), who attended several of the executive lectures from various universities said, "I was inspired by the lecturers strategies in dealing with the problems that they face in their fields. I believe these lectures will be of great help in the future when I do job interviews and when I am actually doing business."
Other universities are sponsoring similar programs. At Sungkyunkwan University, 11 executives from Samsung will give lectures in a two-credit course under the title "Technology Innovation and Business Leadership." Samsung CEOs will share their business experience in future-oriented sectors such as IT, semiconductors, and mobile communication. Since this special course has been popular amongst students, the school increased the size of the class from 500 to 640 people this spring. Those who are not Sungkyunkwan University students can also take this lecture online for free.
A team of 19 executives from LG Electronics will also be standing in front of the classroom, teaching science and engineering students at Yonsei University, Hanyang University, and KAIST. They will be covering topics on design trends in the digital era, digital manufacturing systems, and home networking.
Vice President of Doosan, Park Yong-man and 20 executives from Doosan Business Group will also be giving lectures in a three-credit course at Yonsei University under the title, "Expanding into the World Market in the Global Era."
Considering that lectures from successful executives with current work experience may boost the motivation and satisfaction of the class, universities are planning to provide more of these opportunities. Kang Jin, a researcher at the Ewha CDC said, "There are two important implications in schools inviting more executives as lecturers for the day. First, we can see that listening to vivid and substantial stories of people working at the core of certain fields is of great help in understanding aspects of reality that academics alone cannot teach. Secondly, meeting someone face-to-face in real life through lectures, instead of through screens or by phone, carries a vital meaning to students. Students tend to feel more attachment to a person they actually meet. Thus, our intention is to provide role models for them and to encourage them to be ambitious about their future by following in the footsteps of the lecturers they meet."
