{"id":5566,"date":"2021-12-13T23:29:16","date_gmt":"2021-12-13T14:29:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gistnews.co.kr\/?p=5566"},"modified":"2022-03-24T01:09:20","modified_gmt":"2022-03-23T16:09:20","slug":"gists-growing-challenges-as-a-global-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gistnews.co.kr\/?p=5566","title":{"rendered":"GIST’s Growing Challenges as a Global Campus"},"content":{"rendered":"

About Current Status of GIST and Good Model from America’s Universities<\/p>\n

\"\"
[Fig. 1] Notice in Penn State Library – “We are a place for everyone”<\/figcaption><\/figure>As the number of international undergraduate freshmen and its\u2019 applicants increases, GIST is getting a step closer to globalization as well as the problems that come with a diverse student body. With these changes, various organizations are helping international freshmen to adjust to a campus. <GIST NEWS> interviewed two international freshmen and good model from American universities to find out how GIST can be a better global campus.<\/p>\n

Various\u00a0Organizations\u00a0helping\u00a0Internationals<\/strong><\/p>\n

To deal with dramatic influx, the\u00a0GIST\u00a0Section of\u00a0International\u00a0Relations (SIR) team,\u00a0Student\u00a0Union, and\u00a0Language Education\u00a0Center\u00a0(LEC)\u00a0are helping international freshmen in various aspects.\u00a0SIR helps students after they arrive at GIST with orientation. And course. Registration, and familiarization with campus life. Besides,\u00a0SIR launched a program called\u00a0\u2018Buddy Program\u2019, a mentor-mentee program\u00a0where\u00a0one international freshman and one Korean student are grouped.<\/p>\n

GIST Student Union International Team also supports international freshmen to adjust\u00a0to\u00a0a\u00a0new environment. They made a\u00a0KakaoTalk\u00a0chat room with international freshmen and sophomores, and five Korean members. So far, they have guided useful information regarding daily life including about hospitals, gyms,\u00a0and\u00a0public transportation and GIST Facebook group.<\/p>\n

Furthermore,\u00a0other organizations are also helping internationals by various programs\u00a0such as\u00a0\u2018Language Exchange Program\u2019\u00a0held by\u00a0LEC\u00a0and house dorm mentor held by club\u00a0\u2018House\u2019. Besides, cafeterias\u00a0on campus\u00a0provide\u00a0English translation for menu\u00a0notice.<\/p>\n

Perspective from\u00a02021\u00a0international\u00a0freshman<\/strong><\/p>\n

To find out if\u00a0those programs are effective,\u00a0two\u00a02021 GIST international freshman\u00a0were interviewed. Two interviewees wanted a quotation to be anonymous since it includes several personal stories.<\/p>\n

Student\u00a0A mentioned several difficulties including differences\u00a0in\u00a0food,\u00a0language barrier,\u00a0and\u00a0study load\u00a0with\u00a0their\u00a0experiences. Not only that,\u00a0Student\u00a0A\u00a0had\u00a0challenge\u00a0when making Korean friends due to the language barrier.\u00a0Student\u00a0A said, \u201c[on those times,]\u00a0you need Korean. Otherwise, it is difficult because Koreans feel that their English is not good while it is not\u00a0[which makes them hesitate to speak English].\u201d<\/p>\n

However,\u00a0Student\u00a0A\u00a0appraised GIST\u2019s guidance by mentioning that those difficulties are inevitable.\u00a0Student\u00a0A\u00a0expressed\u00a0their satisfaction by saying, \u201c[GIST\u2019s overall support was]\u00a0good.\u201d Student\u00a0A stated that \u201cthese\u00a0problems that I mentioned, I would face anywhere I go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Student B also had difficulties like Student A had. But they also declared that GIST did enough to support those issues. Student B said that language difference and the campus filled with enthusiasm for studying was unfamiliar at first. Also, they said, \u201cEspecially in GIST, many students graduated science high school which make them familiar with topics from courses while some of the internationals have difficulties. They should study harder than others.\u201d pointing out the issue of study gap.<\/p>\n

Being asked for the suggestion of GIST to be improved, Student B pointed out two aspects about the courses. They suggested that \u201cOn this semester, there were only two humanity courses opened in English. I hope there are more options for humanity courses.\u201d They also said, \u201cI hope there are more courses that teach real-life Korean language for internationals. We have Basic Korean courses but the Korean in the book is too formal which we would never use in real-life situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Student B was satisfied how GIST helped. They expressed their satisfaction by saying, \u201cI like all programs. Especially, Buddy Program is nice since mentors know both about Korean life and university life. Mentors are really helpful for different situations that you don\u2019t know what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Interview\u00a0with\u00a0other\u00a0University\u2019s\u00a0international\u00a0Student<\/strong><\/p>\n

To find out how other universities are guiding internationals,\u00a0two studying abroad students\u00a0were interviewed. The first interviewee was\u00a0Dohyung\u00a0Ko, who is a Penn\u00a0State\u00a0University (PSU)\u00a0freshmen.<\/p>\n

Dohyung\u00a0said that\u00a0he is having a good time\u00a0during\u00a0his first semester thanks to the excellent support of\u00a0the university.\u00a0According to him,\u00a0on the first day of school on the orientation time, PSU\u00a0announced,\u00a0\u201cOur university prohibits any kind of bias.\u00a0Therefore,\u00a0if you experience\u00a0it, don\u2019t hesitate to report it to the school police. We consider it the best priority to keep.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also depicted how the university is assisting internationals.\u00a0One example was their\u00a0engineering peer-to-peer partnership program. Dohyung\u00a0expressed\u00a0his\u00a0satisfaction by\u00a0saying,\u00a0\u201cI\u00a0am\u00a0grateful\u00a0that\u00a0the\u00a0mentor\u00a0knows\u00a0Asian\u00a0culture\u00a0thus\u00a0respects the conflicting view from two cultures.\u00a0I\u00a0feel\u00a0like\u00a0having\u00a0a\u00a0reliable\u00a0senior.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides\u00a0that, PSU\u00a0is\u00a0putting\u00a0a\u00a0meticulous\u00a0effort\u00a0for\u00a0internationals.\u00a0When\u00a0the\u00a0library\u00a0makes\u00a0an\u00a0announcement,\u00a0they\u00a0put\u00a0various\u00a0languages and pictogram. Also,\u00a0at\u00a0the\u00a0beginning\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0semester,\u00a0food\u00a0from\u00a0various\u00a0cultures\u00a0is\u00a0served\u00a0at\u00a0the\u00a0school\u00a0cafeteria.\u00a0After\u00a0one\u00a0month,\u00a0the\u00a0school\u00a0cafeteria\u00a0embraces\u00a0various\u00a0eating\u00a0habits\u00a0by\u00a0providing\u00a0abundant\u00a0options.\u00a0It\u00a0includes\u00a0a\u00a0salad\u00a0bar,\u00a0grill\u00a0bar,\u00a0vegetarian\u00a0bar, and\u00a0international\u00a0bar.\u00a0It\u00a0also\u00a0provides\u00a0a\u00a0Halal\u00a0menu.<\/p>\n

Also, Min Ji Kim, a freshman of Carnegie Mellon University\u00a0(CMU),\u00a0added one aspect of international campus life by saying, \u201cEach country\u00a0has\u00a0a\u00a0student association from which students were born.\u201d For example, in CMU, there are Arab Student Organization,\u00a0Korean American\u00a0Student Association,\u00a0and Japanese Student Association, etc.\u00a0Minji said, \u201cStudent association helps students not to be homesick, such as providing\u00a0traditional food or holding events.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
[Fig. 2] Report bias on PSU – “Be the difference”<\/figcaption><\/figure>It\u2019s already been three months since 2021\u00a0international\u00a0freshmen entered GIST.\u00a0Many international freshmen are settling to new environments. Student A said, \u201cAt\u00a0the beginning of the semester, I was panicked\u00a0by\u00a0all of\u00a0the new things. But for now,\u00a0thanks to GIST, I\u00a0got used to the new culture much better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although it had been only two years that GIST\u00a0has\u00a0been accepting international undergraduate, many people are evaluating that GIST is doing a good job assisting internationals\u2019 campus life.\u00a0There are rising expectations that GIST will continue to develop as a global campus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

About Current Status of GIST and Good Model from America’s Universities As the number of international undergraduate freshmen and its\u2019 applicants increases, GIST is getting a step closer to globalization as well as the problems that come with a diverse student body. With these changes, various organizations are helping international freshmen to adjust to a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":5567,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[79,10,77],"tags":[174],"coauthors":[354],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gistnews.co.kr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/\uad6d\uc81c\uba74_\uc0ac\uc9c41.jpg?fit=1170%2C1560&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdL9j0-1rM","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gistnews.co.kr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5566"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gistnews.co.kr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gistnews.co.kr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gistnews.co.kr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/117"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gistnews.co.kr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5566"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gistnews.co.kr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5566\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5569,"href":"https:\/\/gistnews.co.kr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5566\/revisions\/5569"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gistnews.co.kr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gistnews.co.kr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gistnews.co.kr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gistnews.co.kr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5566"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gistnews.co.kr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=5566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}