▲ Exchange students share a moment of conversation between class.

        As the number of Korean exchange students going to foreign countries is increasing, the number of exchange students coming to Korea is also rising. Students who have come to Ewha through the exchange program share how they prepared for the experience.

Deciding a certain country is the first step that all potential exchange students take. Annette Noelle (Martin Luther University, 3) from Germany studied about Japan at her school and became interested in Asian culture. She wanted to learn more about Asian culture and chose Korea to broaden her knowledge. Noelle and other students received a lot of advice from their best professors and advisors in deciding to come to Ewha. Jess Douglas (Rutgers University, 3) from America was recommended to come to Ewha from his professor who had recently visited Seoul. ? wanted to actually feel the vigor of Korean people and their spurring economy,?says Douglas.

After deciding a country and university to spend their years as an exchange student, students look for information about the school that they are planning to apply for. Through brochures and information sent by the Office of Global Affairs (OGA), students can see what kind of courses is offered by Ewha and the life that they will experience here. The OGA has also prepared a website where students can find out about life in Seoul to Ewha campus life, as well as read reports that exchange students have written about their experiences. Moreover, Noelle said that the program coordination at the OGA who is in charge of inbound exchange students helped her by replying to all the questions that she had.

The next step for students who want to participate in the exchange program is filling out an application form. Being selected as an exchange student to Ewha is relatively easy once the student meets the necessary requirements. In Nagoya University at Japan, students who want to come to Korea can choose from either Ewha or Korea University. ?tudents prefer Korea University, a co-ed university, to Ewha, so getting selected to come to Ewha is not as competitive,?says Yumi Kinore (Nagoya University, 3). There is no written examination in Korean required for foreign students, unlike Korean students who apply to go to regions other than English-based universities, who must pass not only a written exam but an oral interview as well.          

Nevertheless, every university has requirements that students must fulfill in order to apply as an exchange student. Noelle says that students must be in their third year of university to apply as an exchange student and have a high GPA. She added that showing enthusiasm for Ewha and Korea really helped her to get picked as an exchange student.

Tacey Yoo, the program coordinator of inbound exchange students at the OGA, says, Ewha continuously updates information by sending it to officials in other universities who are in charge of promotions. These officials or advisors then help students from their university to know more about Ewha.

The competition rate to come to Ewha seems to be lower than increasing number of students that want to participate in the exchange program from Ewha. Moreover, exchange students who come to Ewha are not fluent in Korean but usually take courses conducted in English once they come here. This is due to written examinations and interviews conducted in English or language of the country that they come from.

 

 

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