For the recent 3 years, the number of humanities courses in English, including ones that provide English material, is on average 6.5 each semester. International students have applied to GIST expecting 100% English classes, but the percentage of English humanities courses turn out to be disappointingly low. The percentage of English classes is important for providing the right to study for international students, which sum up to 14% of GIST students as of 2023.
Currently, the number HUS or PPE humanities courses each semester is around 5 for English courses and 40 for Korean courses. International students have the same requirements in humanities courses for graduation, which is 24 credits in total, including 6 credits of HUS and 6 credits of PPE.
According to interviews with international students, they thought GIST provided 100% English classes. This was an important factor for applying to GIST, according to them. <GIST news> found out that a video, “2025 GIST Undergraduate Admission for International Students,” in the official GIST YouTube channel, states that all major classes are in English. It emphasized “100% English lectures” with the subtitles. Also, the “GIST guidebook for students” says that all basic science subjects and major courses are provided in English. It does not include that humanities courses are mandatory for graduating, nor the number of English humanities courses. GIST did not state clearly that it provides 100% English classes, but many international students are misunderstanding it, due to the lack of information on the number of English humanities courses.
Because of the lack of English humanities courses, students appeared to have trouble planning their timetable. Maximiliano (physics, junior) explained that English humanities courses are usually held between 10:30~14:30, when there are important major courses. When excluding courses unavailable due to conflict in schedule, there are even less courses. Also, he added that some courses say they are in English, but are actually in Korean. Because of this, he said that “this semester, I will take a Korean humanities course and submit the report in English.”
Mohanad (mechanics, senior) still has a humanities course to take on his last semester, because of the shortage. Also, the only course he can take is a course that is not interesting to him. He wanted to take courses about Japanese culture or music, but could not because they were only provided in Korean. He added that international students should try to take all courses that are available.
Khoa (chemistry/material, senior) mentioned that there is a need for improvement in the percentage of English in chemistry major courses, too. He stated that there was an imbalance in language usage in some major courses in the Department of Chemistry. “Important concepts are sometimes explained in detail in Korean, while only a summary is provided in English,” he explained. Also, he revealed that some experiment classes provided English course materials, but the class was taught in Korean, with the TA translating. “The English humanities professors are dedicated and fair. But I would appreciate it more if the school improved the variety of humanities courses available to international students,” he said.
All students who participated in the interview stated the need for an increase in the number of English humanities courses. The School of Humanities and Social Sciences replied to <GIST news> that, “The change in the percentage of English humanities courses may have advantages and disadvantages. Therefore immediate change in the percentage would be hard, but we will discuss ways to schedule English humanities courses so that they don’t overlap with major courses.” Before <GIST news> started covering this issue, Maximiliano had asked the school, if the increase in English humanities courses is not possible, whether decreasing the required number of credits for humanities courses would be available. However, the departments he asked were not responsible, so he didn’t receive any immediate responses.
GIST is an international school, where international students’ ratio is increasing from 10% to 14%. It is a big problem that English humanities courses in GIST take up only 12.5%. Mohanad shared that “It is understandable because we are the first batch of international students, but I hope students will have a better environment.”