The EU-ICI Project: Spread Your Wings to the World
By Son Hyun-jee, Student Editor
Chonnam National University (CNU) was finally nominated on September 10th, 2012 to operate the European Union Industrialized Countries Instrument Education Cooperation Program (EU ICI-ECP). Out of 11 universities consortia applied for the program, CNU’s Double Degree project was selected by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and European External Service of the European Union. Through the program CNU students can study at a university in Europe for a year and acquire a double degree from two universities in EU and CNU. The number of European students who study at CNU will increase within 2 or 3 years starting from 2013, and also the number of CNU students who study at a European university will increase to a maximum of 10 in 2013.
According to the Office of International Affairs at CNU, the Friedrich-Schiller University of Jena in Germany was the only university where CNU dispatched its student until second semester in 2011. Now, the number of affiliated European universities has increased and the OIA has dispatched several students to 5 universities in 4 European nations. These are Vytautas Magnus University and Siauliai University in Lithuania, the University of Zagreb in Croatia, the University of Almeria in Spain and Friedrich-Schiller University of Jena in Germany. Gu Hee-jin, Senior Coordinator for the European Exchange Program of the OIA said that in 2013 CNU will run student exchange programs with more Universities such as the University of Bayreuth in Germany, Université Catholique de l'Ouest in France and the University of Alcala in Spain.
CNU’s first exchange students were sent to Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Poland in 1997. However, exchange students have been mainly dispatched to universities in North America and China. Participating in the International Education Conference & Exhibition in 2011 and 2012, the OIA promotes CNU to the managers of European universities and exchange activities with academic institutions in Europe were activated in 2012. Before 2012, most students who applied for student exchange programs to European countries were accepted and the competition rate for European universities was relatively lower than that for North America and Asia. However, interest in universities in Europe has been increasing among students and the competition rate has become higher than before. The number of applicants for the 2013 Student Exchange Program to Europe was 14 and its competition rate was 2.4 : 1.
Exchange students who were finally selected for the program should attend all four pre-departure orientations. During orientations, they are introduced to a person in charge of each region and should set up their goals for their time studying abroad. They also receive safety education, taking advantage of the Supporters for Safe Overseas Travel by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. After finishing two orientations, they should prepare presentations for introducing not only Gwangju, Korea and CNU with a foreign language but also the nation and the school that they will go to. “I had the opportunity to study at a German university after I had failed the first application.” said Moon Ok-hyun (Senior, Dept. of German Language & Literature) who studied at Friedrich-Schiller University of Jena from April to July, 2012. She said that the OIA makes an effort for exchange students and she obtained some useful information from previous exchange students’ reports on the website of the OIA. However, she added that some additional support for exchange students is needed. “I had not received financial support from the OIA because I was granted a scholarship from other institute for expenses.”
For the last four years, the OIA has tried to make an agreement with universities that it can co-operate in a reciprocal student exchange program, and to balance the number of inbound and outbound exchange students. Not only have the nations and universities been diversified but the number of invited students has drastically increased. With the effort of the OIA and the EU-ICI, the number of exchange students to Europe is expected to increase and the regions where CNU students are sent will also expand to Eastern and Southern Europe. Let’s hope that the EU ICI-ECP project will be the new opportunity for more students. The EU ICI-ECP program has run since 2008 to promote mutual understanding, innovation and quality of education through academic cooperation and exchange between the European Union and seventeen industrialized countries including the Republic of Korea in higher education and vocational education and training.
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