Any student from a university participating in Eduroam service can freely access internet at over 15,000 universities and institutions worldwide, including 37 universities and 55 campuses in Korea.
Eduroam is a secure wireless network service that allows students, graduates, faculty members, and staff to obtain internet connectivity of other universities and research institutions that participate in the service. By simply logging into their own home campus network with their student ID and password, they can gain access to the wireless networks of other institutions. Eduroam was first developed in Europe in 2003 to support the international and education community, and now has a participating list of 15,000 universities and research institutions worldwide.
37 universities and 55 campuses in Korea joined Eduroam last year, including Ewha that participated since last May.
When visiting an education institution, one can find out whether it provides the Eduroam network by checking the Service Set Identifier (SSID) to see if the network named “eduroam” is in the list. The list and map of participating education institutions can also be found on the Web site (http://www.eduroam.kr/).
The eduroam service is expected to be extremely useful when students move across campuses, go on student exchange programs, or study at other research institutions.
“Students participating in credit exchange programs can use the service with their student ID in other universities, both within the country and abroad,” explained Kim So-yun from the IT Infrasructure Team in Ewha. “Professors too can use it during business trips or academic conferences. The Eduroam service will be very convenient for the school community members when visiting other institutions off campus.”
Meanwhile, many Ewha students are unaware of the wireless network even though the service has been provided for about a year.
“I might have seen the eduroam wireless network listed on my laptop’s SSID, but I have never tried connecting to it,” said Nam Eun-hye, a freshman in the Division of International Studies. “I just never thought that I could gain access to the free network of other universities by using my school portal’s ID and password.”