International
News and Event
NEW Matters to be done by colleges interested in their internationalization
Matters to be done by colleges interested
in their internationalization
- Presentation
made at APAIE by the team led by Professor Do-yeong Kim
What
do Korean students studying in Europe need more than anything else? It appears
that the answer to this question is “a proactive mindset and open-mindedness.”
For foreigner students studying in Korea, “knowledge about local cultures”
appears what they need the most.
The foregoing is part of the contents
of the presentation made by a team led by Professor Kim Do-yeong (School of
Business Administration) with the help of Chang Dae-sung (a graduate student/School
of Business Administration) at a session of the Asia-Pacific Association for
International Education (APAIE) held in March in Japan based on a survey toward
84 Ajou students studying in Europe, North America and Oceania and 99 foreign
students studying at Ajou as part of the sister school student exchange program.
The
survey, which was carried out on three occasions, i.e. right after their arrival,
two months later and four months later, checked the students’ level of assimilation
to local cultures, human interactions, satisfaction with life in a foreign country
plus desired roles of the home university and the host university in connection
with the foregoing.
Ajou students with a proactive mindset studying
in foreign countries showed a positive result in terms of assimilation to local
cultures. Commenting on the survey, Professor Kim Do-yeong and Mr. Chang Dae-sung
said, “The survey shows how their individual personality has an impact on their
need to adapt to cultures of foreign countries where individualism is respected.”
In contrast, the survey shows that foreigner students studying at Ajou rarely
see that their individual personality has a significant impact on their life
in Korea, a collectivist society, and that they get assimilated to local cultures
rapidly, as time goes by. The research team commented on it, saying, “It appears
that as foreigner students here come to have a deeper understanding of local
cultures, as they have more and more close Korean friends.”
The
research proposes that it is necessary for Korean students who intend to study
in these foreign countries to pay attention to the fact that their own behavior
toward others will have a strong impact on their life there amid strong individualism.
As for foreigner students studying at Ajou, the research says that it is necessary
for them to understand local cultures, particularly the strong collectivism
of Koreans to have a higher level of satisfaction with their life here.
The
research also points to the need for colleges in the said foreign countries
to provide programs designed to help Korean students there to be able to adapt
to their individualistic cultures, and vice versa.
The research
says, “Overall, both Korean and foreigner exchange students express much higher
satisfaction with their life in foreign countries than in the past. Needless
to say, their level of satisfaction will become higher with the launch of the
aforesaid programs.”
Man-Ghyu Pak, Head of the Office of External
Relations, said, “The research was carried out, as it was pointed out that
it was necessary to overhaul the student exchange program. I agree that we should
make efforts to enhance the quality of the program, rather than focusing on
increasing the number of exchange students. Attendees at the APAIE session expressed
much interest in the contents of the presentation concerning the need for internationalization
of colleges.”
Ajou
University