This is the opportunity we have been waiting for - a chance to spread our wings and enjoy new experiences. One of the best parts of university life is living away from home. We have freedom and the chance to meet new people and to understand new cultures. Most students opt to live in halls of residence - this usually works out cheaper than finding a flat or house so we never feel lonely. Plus, we get a chance to meet many students who belongs to different parts of world.

After a hard day's study, going out and having fun is what student life is all about. An important aspect of being at university is managing our own time. It's up to us to decide when we'll study, when we'll go shopping and when we'll have a night out. We can be as flexible with our time as we like but we'll always need to make sure we get out of bed for lectures, meet essay and project deadlines, and schedule in plenty of revision days before exams. That's what we're here for, after all.

Here we learn lots of things and gain valuable insights into Korean students and their culture and we could be here for a longer time. Consequently we may be able to learn more and more. Our stay here prepares us on how to surmount challenges willingly and tackle all kinds of situations. I personally feel our bigest lesson learnt here is how to survive in a different culture. After having spent considerable time at CNU, we have become more comfortable and have adapted to the new environment . Each day we overcome the challenges which we face, with the help of each other.

In any country, education always contributes crucially to development. It cultivates skilled employees who often bring about economic miracles in generations. It also re-affirms traditional values while maintaining commitment to modernization, citizenship, and global involvement. Education may be different in some aspects in Korea, or in other countries but we believe that it has a universal purpose. Thus, the values and experience we have gained from CNU and Korea in general will be very beneficial to us in our teaching careers. Let’s look through other friends’ eyes.

Le Duc Niem (Vietnam): My first impression is educational culture. Both Vietnamese and Korean have been affected by Chinese values such as Confucianism, Buddhism and etc… so there are many similarities in culture from the teacher- student order in a class to the senior system in society. But Korean students seem to have more freedom in their study. They can decide what courses to follow according to their preferences. They can also apply for a years’ absence to go to other countries or pursue a CPA program. In contrast, most courses given in my university in Vietnam are compulsory according to a class-based arrangement. Students must strictly follow their schedule until they graduate. Thus at CNU, I have more flexibility in my study but it also requires a greater effort from me. Actually, I like many things here in my department except for the examination style because students must memorize everything to do a test. In the "learning-by-heart" aspect, I am very weak. I prefer the home-taken tests or open-book ones which are more suitable for a Ph.D. student.

Mosharrof Hussain (Bangladesh): I find an excellent academic environment at CNU. Not only the beautiful girls and scenic country but also that CNU is better in most other aspects, except for the number of students. Both the Undergraduates & Graduates and the teachers have fantastic academic relationships. All the labs are well equipped with modern research stools. In my native University, students have no option for part-time jobs or night time lab work which is a normal phenomenon at Korean Universities. Despite students being politically active in the past and contributing to our country’s independence, the deaths taking place these days during violent clashes between political opponents or between the two factions of the same party offer no solace to parents. This is totally absent at CNU. Having a voting system here to select student leaders is a more democratic way. As far as I know every CNU student has their own password to enter their dormitory at night but at my University, girls must be home at sunset. This is beyond imagination for CNU students. Other differences occur in culture, friendship, behavior and language. I am enjoying my career as well as my CNU friends. Finally, it’s difficult to accept in this age of globalization that CNU student’s English fluency is well below average.

Ram Kumar Phuyal(Nepal): We have access to online electronic resources from anywhere, which helps us to obtain information from the college, department and library at any time of the day.  CNU has very strong infrastructure facilities which help students and scholars to pursue their studies and research, and good facilities for physically disabled people, too. CNU puts more emphasis on independent learning and regular assignments so as to keep students up-to-date with the latest information. But it doesn’t put much focus on theoretical preparation.  This is the difference that I feel here in the education system. I've particularly liked the teaching/learning method which is not only classroom based, but is on both quantitative and qualitative research through field based projects and online learning etc. Students here have many subjects and disciplines to choose from, and have the opportunity to develop specializations.  Most of the foreign students I've met in University have some kind of internship which supports their tuition and fee costs.

 

* Le Duc Niem is a Ph.D. Student, Department of Economics, School of Business Administration, Mosharrof Hussain, a Ph.D. Student, Department of Aqua-life Medicine, and Ram Kumar Phuyal, a Ph.D. Student, Graduate School of Economics.

 

<Interview with Foreign students>

Chonnam Tribune met Chinese graduate students, ShiLiHong and Zhaoxin who are both on an MA course at the Dept. of Communication. We interviewed them about school life and their feelings as foreign students at CNU, and the differences between Chinese and Korean university cultures. First of all, they talked about the atmosphere of Korean university festivals. Korean university students are so enthusiastic and active at these festivals, which is not the case in China. Most Chinese universities don’t get excited about festivals or school anniversaries. They also said CNU students’ active attitudes surface in each class. The atmosphere of Chinese university classes is so quiet because most students just listen and write while professors give lectures. On the other hand CNU students are active in class: Students’ presentations are followed by questions, answers and hot discussion. Korean professors give a lot of assignments, but Chinese ones don’t. Many Korean students tend to be late for class. In China, university bell rings when class starts. Therefore, Chinese students are hardly ever late for class. Some other differences are also worth noting. When Korean students graduate from university, they seem to be very eager to get a job, while most Chinese students become graduate students. We can say this is a trend of Chinese universities. Finally, there is a distinct division between seniors and juniors in Korea. In China, there isn’t. So, they said that they had difficulty in using polite expressions such as “eonni” (sister in Korean), “obba” (brother in Korean), when they first come to Korea.

By Rana Mukesh Kumar, Guest Reporter
 
저작권자 © Chonnam Tribune 무단전재 및 재배포 금지