The school was selected to participate in Women in Engineering -Undergraduate leading Program (WE-UP) led by the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the National Research Foundation of Korea.
As the second government-led program that promotes engineering, the school will receive 10 billion won at most by the government to support female engineers. Ewha is one of three universities to be selected for all of the government-issued programs in the engineering field.
WE-UP has three main plans: improving the overall engineering curriculum; supporting employment of women engineering students and promoting a women-friendly environment in its field. The program does not mandate all universities to pursue identical plans but encourages the implementation of diverse plans according to the size of the university, its unique features and the percentage of female students majoring in Engineering. Furthermore, the government also anticipates positive external effects.
“By educating female engineers to fit social standards by selected institutions producing educated engineers, we hope that the effects will go beyond campuses and create a women-friendly atmosphere in the engineering sector,” said Seo Yu-mi, the deputy director general of MOE.
Following such characteristics of the project, Ewha specifically plans to create a convergence education curriculum and a female specialized track that focuses on cultivating female engineers. Regarding employment support, the school is also planning on developing a career map and strengthening career guidance for future engineers.
Despite this positive prospect, some students still have some doubts about the project. As it is was adopted without any advanced notice to students. They are showing discomfort over how the school deals with the adoption of government funded projects especially after controversies around the LiFE College. Students are hoping for more communication between the school and students prior to a major decision.
“I do wish that the school inform students before applying for all those education funds,” remarked Lee Young-eun, a freshman in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. “Based on what I heard about WE-UP, I think that it will positively affect our engineering students. However, I dislike the school’s opaque decision-making process that does not take students’ opinion into consideration.”
 

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