Students’ opinions on Ewha’s overall systems for international students

In September 2011, the Korean government began evaluating 347 universities on their systems of attracting and managing international students. Three months later, the ministry announced the results, ranking Ewha fourth place.
Starting this semester, the Global Service Center will be launching new plans, such as strengthening the mentor-mentee program by pairing professors with students to provide more attentive care and counseling.
In this edition, the Ewha Voice reported on Ewha’s policies and programs for international students in-depth.

Students from several countries commented on how supportive and well-managed Ewha is concerning international students.
Students evaluated Ewha’s faculty, specifically its professors and the Office of Global Affairs, as considerate and helpful in assisting them with adjusting to the school. Understanding that Korean is a towering burden too difficult to climb alone, professors try to assist international students who are required to take courses taught in Korean.
“Some of my professors even provided exam papers written in English for me to understand the questions correctly and write my papers in English,” said Shristi Tiwari (Health Education and Management, 3), who is from India.
In some cases, professors do not simply assist when asked, but rather reach out first.
“After one Korean lecture, my professor called me forth and explained to me in-depth on what was being taught during his lecture,” Constance Williams (English, 2) said. Williams said she was moved by her professor’s sincerity.
Not only professors, but also the OGA offered help to students by answering inquiries and assigning a buddy or a mentor to each student.
“Most of my questions concerning courses or school programs are usually answered by the OGA whenever I visit the office,” said Margarita Smyrla Guerrero Rodriguez (Business, 3), an Ewha Global Partnership Program (EGPP) student from Mexico.
Set up with a mentor when she first came to Ewha, Chobtham Pacharaporn (Korean, 2) from Thailand mentioned that she had received a lot of help from her mentor, also a Korean major.
“My mentor knew well the problems I went through in studying Korean literature, so she explained difficult words in simple Korean and gave me tips in doing my assignments,” Pacharaporn said.
However, there are several negative aspects of Ewha which the international student body would like to see improvement in.
According to several students, the OGA at times sends e-mails about school events or programs, but the information does not seem to be sent to all students.
In addition, some mentors do not fully perform their roles as “buddies” of international students.
Konstantina Asymianaki (English, 2) from Greece described her mentor as “apathetic” because her mentor only answered basic questions about Ewha’s policies when what Asymianaki really wanted was for her mentor to take her around Seoul to experience Korean culture.

* Reporter: Kim Jin-ah & Chung Yoon-young & Lee Hea-won

* E-mail: jakim90@ewhain.net & yychung@ewhain.net &heawon_lee@ewhain.net

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