Space

for Students Is

Not Enough?

By Kwon Ji-hye, Student Editor

Chonnam National University (CNU) has constructed new lecture rooms and buildings to improve educational circumstances on campus every year. However, many students said that CNU has not built a sufficient number of places for students and they need more places to study and rest. Last January, Chonnam Tribune conducted a sticker survey of more than 240 students to find out what they thought about the –matter, that place for students was lacking or enough. According to the results of the survey, about 88.5% of the respondents said that the places for students was inadequate, and only 11% of them said there is enough place. The survey results indicate that there seems not to be enough places for students at CNU. Let’s look into this matter if space for students on campus is sufficient.


We Need More Places

Many students still want a lot of space to study and rest despite university

authorities expanding and establishing educational and student welfare facilities to provide enough space for students on campus. Besides, each college has actively invested in these facilities with the purpose of providing its students with a spacious and modern environment. For example, College of Engineering Buildings IV and VII were built last year, and Student Union I and II will be completely remodeled by March. Currently, there are many places for CNU students to study and rest such as Library I(Hongdo), Library II (Baekdo), Kenya café, Nuteenamoo café, and club rooms. Most colleges also have seminar rooms, student council rooms, rest rooms for female students and department libraries.
However, many students have complained that all of these places for students are not enough at CNU. Most of all, they say, “Especially, the amount of place for studying is insufficient.” Two libraries, Hongdo and Baekdo, are always overcrowded by students. To solve this problem, the Committee for Library Management has distributed seat tickets to students on a first-come-first-served basis during the midterm and final exam period. Students come to school very early in the morning to reserve a seat, but many students have difficulties to get any available seat because the number of seats is limited. They cannot but go back home or turn their steps to find another proper place for studying.
During the regular semester, except for exam time, the same situation occurs for self-study and group study rooms in the libraries. Every semester the Education Development Research Institute (EDRI) has surveyed students who had participated in the ‘Aha! Learning Community’ program to know if they suffer from lack of places for studying. The ‘Aha! Learning Community’ program is a great group study program that the EDRI has been operating since the second semester of 2005. The participants in this program have been increasing every year, but according to the results of the EDRI survey, students who felt inconvenienced due to the shortage of places for group studying around campus have been increasing, was albeit at a small portion. In the first semester of 2006, 3.2% of participants said that places for studying are insufficient, but in the second semester of 2007, 7.7% of participants said so. Kim Ji-hyen who attended this program last semester said, “I think this program is more focused on group studies and discussions. So, more seminar rooms or group study rooms are needed to activate participant groups’ study activities.”
As a proverb states, “All work and no play make Jack a dull boy”, enough places to rest are also as important for students as one for studying. Most students usually take a break in their student council rooms, clubrooms or a café around campus like Kenya or Nuteenamoo café. However, not all clubs have rooms because there are so many clubs and space is limited. Sometimes, the members of two clubs use one clubroom together. In that case, the room is so crowded that the clubs’ members may feel uncomfortable.

What Causes the Shortage of Place?

As mentioned above, many students think there is not enough place available for students at CNU. However, we should make sure whether it is true or not because there is all the difference between students’ feeling and the actual state of things.
There are several reasons; first, the private ownership concept that students have for seats in the libraries make them feel that there is a lack of place. The libraries are overcrowded by students and the seat ticket distribution system on a first-come-first-served basis during the exam periods amplifies the lack of space. However, some students who get a seat in a library have a tendency to leave their seat for a long time, and in that case other students cannot use the seats and their empty seats are wasted. If students of reserved seats leave a note which has information about the time they would return to their seats, other students who do not take seats could comfortably sit on empty seats and study during this period. In that case, the empty seats are not wasted.
Second, students need to use various places like lecture halls and seminar rooms for studying. Libraries and study rooms are not the only places for studying. To tell the truth, the average use rate of lecture rooms is about 50%. For instance, in the College of Engineering, some lecture rooms have only one class daily. Even though there is a difference for each college and semester, lecture rooms’ use rate is generally not high. A majority of students said vaguely, “Study rooms are insufficient. We need more place for group study.” Many students do not take full advantage of lecture rooms’ utility. If you make lecture rooms also used for studying, the lecture rooms would be great place for your group study.

For Maximum Use of Limited Space

Although many students said that places where they can study and take a rest are insufficient, it sure

seems the feeling is not absolutely insufficient after looking into students’ space use patterns. There is a method to use limited places efficiently. We should have the spirit of sharing to jointly use space in our university. Yoo Jong-won, Vice President for Planning & Cooperation said that not only students but also professors and staff have to regard various facilities of CNU as places for public use not as private ones. He said, “CNU makes an effort to supply enough places to study and rest for students, but available space is limited. So, we have to recognize those places are not certain individuals but all members of CNU. Some club members want their own club room, but the club room is not space for only the club members. There is no one place owned by particular individuals and groups at CNU. All places in CNU are for us including students, professors and staff.”
All universities have to make their students able to study without feeling uncomfortable due to the shortage of place and to use place easily for studying. CNU also has made an effort to supply more space in libraries and seminar rooms. From this year, the Education Technology Institute will prepare some study rooms for the ‘Aha! Learning Community’ program and other colleges make a great effort to build more buildings to provide students with enough places for studying. Park Sun-hee (Researcher, Dept. of Learning Support in the EDRI) said, “Students say that places for studying are insufficient. These complaints flash across our mind as negative feelings, but I think their complaints show CNU students’ passion for learning and studying of CNU students is high.” As she said, it is a good situation that CNU students are concerned about their study environment. In addition, she hopes their passion for studying will be going on and the authorities of CNU pay attention to the students’ voice and supply more places for studying.

We Need Have the Spirit of Sharing

Most students have a notion that particular places belong to someone. This is wrong. All places in CNU can be used by every member. . If we think it in this way that there is lack of space in our university, we can make the efficiency of place become higher than before and we would not complain about the shortage of places. CNU is always concerned with the matter of places for students and researching how to do use place more efficiently. If having the spirit of sharing on the space in CNU, we make the maximum use of space for students on campus in the coming years.