<#304 News Focus>
Celebrating International Students’ Day at CNU
By Jang Keun-won, Tribune Cub-reporter
On November 26th, foreign students in the College of Engineering at Chonnam National University (CNU) celebrated International Students’ Day (ISD), a special day the college designated two years ago to help international students adapt more easily to the new environment at CNU. Since 2008, the International Students’ Day events have provided good opportunities for international students and officials of the college to communicate with each other and to give international students a good impression of CNU and Korea.
On the ISD, international students and college administrative officers were invited to participate in ISD events such as a cultural field trip and a dinner. They visited Haeoreum and Yongoreum villages in Suncheon to experience Korean traditional culture. In the villages, they watched a practical demonstration on how to make traditional Korean tofu and kimchi and they had a good time drinking water that flows continuously from the top of the mountain through a small tube. They also formed groups of five and took some pictures. After the field trip, the participants had dinner together for the ISD evening event near the East Gate of CNU in order to cultivate friendship among international students in a comfortable atmosphere. Yoon Hi-seak, Dean of the College of Engineering, also participated in the evening event and had the chance to become familiar with international students’ school lives.
For the previous two years, the ISD event had just been a meeting for dinner with the college’s dean, administrative staff and international students. But this year, the ISD events were included a traditional Korean cultural experience and a dinner meeting in the evening. Thanh-hai (Doctoral Coursework Student, School of Mechanical Systems Engineering) from Vietnam, who participated in this event, said, “I have joined many events held by the Office of International Affair (OIA), but this ISD event is different from others. I think the trip itself is valuable for international students, and I was surprised at how many international students there are in our college.“
The number of international students in the College of Engineering is around 120 from a total of 3,694 undergraduate and graduate students. With the year-end holidays approaching, most international students who have left their countries to study at CNU miss their hometowns, friends and parents. By establishing events like the ISD, the college has tried to maintain contact with international students and combat any loneliness they might experience. Seo Ga-won, college staff member, said, “Actually it is difficult for college staff to have an opportunity to talk about international students’ school lives with them in person. We expect that international students at the College of Engineering can be helped through the ISD events.” To boost the international students' attendance at ISD events, the college changed the date of the ISD from December 2nd to November 26th this year, a time further from the final exam period and warmer for field activities.
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