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The First CNU International Education Fair: Fairly Prepared?
 
By Kim Sun-woo, Student Editor, Seo Jung-eun, Tribune Reporter
 
There has been a recent rising interest in studying abroad and working with foreign people among university students. The International Education Fair (IEF), reflecting these growing interests, was held at Chonnam National University (CNU) on March 25th. The IEF was hosted by the Office of International Affairs (OIA), and many students attended a variety of sections of the fair and showed more interest in the fair than ever before. This is because it was the first fair in which they could get lots of information they wanted in one place. The Chonnam Tribune looked over it in detail with participant students’ response to the IEF.
The IEF focused on delivering information about studying abroad and giving opportunities for CNUians to measure their English proficiency levels. A seminar room on the first floor of OIA was filled with information booths from many programs such as university exchange or internship programs and international studying abroad programs. These were the most popular booths for the students because students were able to choose international programs according to their interests. There were also numerous presentations from delegates of eight foreign sister universities and students who have studied abroad through the school programs. After the presentation of Cheng Kung National University, one student said, “Students usually consider America, Britain or China to study abroad. However, this fair introduces various universities in many countries such as Taiwan or the Philippines so that students can be exposed to a wider range of choices.” The IEF also provided free interview opportunities for students to measure their English ability and therefore many students could learn how to give a presentation and get a chance to estimate their foreign language speaking abilities through the interview. One of the participants, Yu Yun-mi (Sophomore, Dept. of Chemistry) said, “I always wanted to study abroad someday but had no idea what to do. I am satisfied with the definitive answers to my questions from experts and experienced students.” She added, “It seemed that the stamp and coupon system encouraged students to find more booths and ask for more information.” After the program, many students gave positive responses, saying that they learned that there are plenty of chances to study abroad through the school programs.
Meanwhile, there were several shortcomings in the IEF programs. One of shortcomings was the fact that all the programs had to be conducted in one day. One participant in the IEF said, “The IEF also left much to be desired. Since the IEF was held for only one day, the schedule was too tight to learn about many good programs. It also seemed there was not enough advance publicity for the fair.” Due to the number of programs during the one-day IEF, some participants did not have enough time to follow all the good programs in detail. In addition, because most of students were interested in only small number of booths, such as the U.S., Canada or China, students showed relatively small interest in the presentations from the delegates of not-so-popular countries. To improve the quality of the IEF and increase the participation of students, the IEF needs to offer the fair for more than a day if possible. According to a survey of the OIA, many students wanted more time to participate in IEF programs. In addition, one of the drawbacks of the IEF was that most of students were not as interested in participating in exchange programs of not-so-popular countries as those of popular ones such as USA, Canada, and China.
Overall, however, the IEF was a great success in that CNU students were exposed to various international programs and able to be introduced to new opportunities to study abroad. Considering that, it was the first time ever to offer such programs as the IEF, it was indeed a successful event that attracted a great number of students who interested in studying abroad, and it would certainly draw more attention from the students in the next IEF-like programs. In order to make the IEF programs more successful the next time, it is necessary for the OIA to find a way to get students’ attention with more advanced publicity activities. It also needs to find a way to generate interest in programs offered by universities from not-so-popular countries. This is a must to achieve a true sense of campus globalization by embracing diverse ethnic and language surroundings.
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