Chonnam National University (CNU) held 2016 International Summer Session (ISS) from June 22 to July 18, 2016. It is a four-week program that international students and CNU students take classes together and also go to several places such as Songgwangsa Temple and Naganeupseong to experience traditional Korean culture. In this time, 130 foreign students from 21 countries and 34 universities participated. In the ISS which is evaluated as the biggest chance for foreign and Korean students to interact with each other and exchange their knowledge and experience.
     As the part of 2016 ISS, international students took part in many activities to learn about Korean culture on July 2, 2016. They wore Hanbok, the traditional Korean clothes and tried to write calligraphy at Gwangju Hyanggyo, a traditional public school in the Joseon Dynasty. They also made Bibimbap, traditional Korean food at JS cuisine cooking academy. Ching Ting Huang, a student from Taiwan, said “I love Korea and this is my first time to Korea. I’m very satisfied with all these programs operated by CNU. If I have a chance, I want to experience pubic bathing.”

      Behind foreign students, Korean students can experience Korea much better by giving foreign students hand at communicating with others and become a good friend to introduce Korea more specifically. There are two ways for Korean students to participate in ISS. One is to be a ‘buddy’ of a foreign student. Jang Ji-su whose major is business administration participated in this summer session as a buddy said, “This is a great opportunity to learn about other countries. I want to show my buddy how Korean university students hang out in their free time.” Another way is to be a staff of ISS to assist the entire event and do interpretation for smooth communication between Korean professors and foreign students. Kim Jin-jae, a staff at Office of International Affairs, said “Working as a staff in ISS is hard but it is really fun because I can make many friends all over the world. It is encouraging to hear international students saying thank you. Since this is an amazing chance to develop speaking skills, I hope many students to apply for this.”

     As the scale of ISS is getting bigger, foreign students’ interest to Korea also gets higher. Lee Young-yeol, a calligraphy teacher at Gwangju Hyanggyo, said “Last year, only a few students could write calligraphy. However, this year, it looks like that many of the students have already learned how to write Hangul.” He also said, “I want international students to learn about Chung (loyalty) and Hyo (filial duty) which are the basic values of Korea."
Ji Byung-moon, CNU president, said that CNU ISS is a global education program which pursues active interaction between professors and students from various countries. President Ji also encouraged for many students to join in the next ISS.