EICSC provides unique experience for professors
EICSC provides great experiences to professors. Professors who lectured in the summer college last year were satisfied with the unique experience they gained from teaching foreign students and Ewha students together.
“It was a great experience to teach internationalized class at Ewha,” said Professor Kim Sei-wan (Economics), who previously taught Macroeconomics in the EICSC. “I was impressed that students understand the relationship between Macroeconomic theories and Korean economic reality and the differences between Korean economy and other countries’ economy since everyone has different backgrounds.”
This year, EICSC has recruited other professors from other prestigious universities. Professors from abroad who will be teaching at the EICSC this year are in their experience at Ewha.
“I have been coming to Korea on a regular basis since the late 1960,” said Professor Michael Robinson (Indiana University), who will be teaching Modern Korean History. “Ewha University has been a constant throughout this time as a center of academic excellence in Korea.”
Valuable experiences from EICSC
Since students of EICSC are mostly foreign students, they expect to learn the Korean culture, society and language. Students want to experience and explore deeper into the culture by living in the country rather than merely reading books and watching video clips.
“I want to improve my language skills and explore deeper into Korean culture than I ever have before,” Courtney Grogan said (Harvard University, 4).
Some students applied for EICSC because of their interests in women’s studies and women colleges.
“I was particularly interested in attending one of the world’s largest women’s universities and gleaning some knowledge about what has made Ewha’s program so successful.” Alyssa Abraham (‘13 George Washington University) said.
Spending time at Ewha during EICSC, overseas students learned unique culture of Ewha as a woman’s university and also experienced Korean culture.
“During the sharing session, I learned more about the interesting courses offered, buddy program and weekly field trips where local and international students can mingle together, and in particular, the subsided tuition fee which makes summer studies more affordable for students,” Jovell Neo Pei Yi (Singapore Management University, 3) said. “The institution’s strategic location in Seoul would also bring about more convenience for international students who wish to eat, shop and have fun.”
Students were impressed in Ewha students’ pride of Ewha although it was very short time for them staying in Ewha. “I was immediately impressed with the sense of school pride and enthusiasm of students at Ewha,” Abraham said.
Regarding cultural experiences, many students were satisfied with field trips that enabled them to experience the traditional Korean culture outside of classrooms.
“The most memorable sites we visited at field trips were the Korean Fold Village and Kimchi World,” Abraham said. “It was a great opportunity for us to experience the history and culture of Korea!”
Other than visiting historical and famous sites, students went to local places to experience culture that was foreign to them. Grogan went to a fish market and experienced unexpected joy when he tried the traditional Korean Sannakji, live octopus, for the first time.
“I stared in disbelief as I held the small baby octopus in my hand and felt its sticky tentacles wriggle through my fingers,” Grogan said. “Although I had originally been excited to taste Sannakji, I was beginning to question this decision as I stood in the middle of a fish market in Seoul. I took in a deep breath of the strong seafood scented air, grabbed my chopsticks, said, ‘We shall eat well!’ and was surprised to discover the words I had spoken to be true; the octopus was delicious!”
Many were reluctant to leave after learning new things and having new experience.
“I got the feeling the people wanted to be outside seeing new things and having new experiences; this is something I want to try to do more, especially as I prepare to move to a new place and start a new life and career,” David Hafferty (Harvard University, 4) said. “I wanted to prolong my formal study of the language. For that, I will always be extremely grateful to the Korea Institute, Asia Center and Harvard University.