Seoul National University International Summer Institute

From June to the beginning of August of 2015 I was lucky enough to be a part of Seoul National University International Summer Institute.

SNU Summer Program is held every year in English. It is necessary to choose some courses and register for them. There are a lot of courses, and everyone can choose 3 or 4 of them up to your interests. There are also Korean language courses.  Students are distributed on the language levels at the first day of class. You also can pick as a full course the activities touch upon Korean culture, for instance, the basics of playing Korean traditional musical instruments.

To my mind, the great advantage of this program is that it is not narrowly specialized on a single scientific field. I studied with students from different countries and professional fields. We shared our educational experience, and learned a lot. I highly appreciate the course of Professor Min Gyo Koo “Industrial Policy of Korea”. At first,  I was worried when professor said that we would have a course related to the macro and microeconomics, and he began to draw tables and graphs on the blackboard. But the teaching methods, the way of material delivery and the enthusiasm of the lecturer engendered a genuine interest to the course.

Another advantage of the program was that there was a special SNU team, which helped foreign students in solving various issues, ranging from resettlement in a dormitory to oversee trips and excursions to the sights. But practically such teams or curators exist in all Korean educational programs.

Fans of cultural activities will also find do for the soul: in addition to the everyday program events, there are different kinds of entertainments in the streets of Seoul and areas that are popular among young people, such as Hongdae, Myeongdong, Apgujeong. While walking through the various back streets, visiting small restaurants with traditional cuisine, communicating with the locals, observing how the families spend their evenings in the parks, I believe, everyone can feel the modern rhythm of Korean life, its spirit, which is important in studying process.

           Sanakova Torkoloy, MA 2 student of School of Asian Studies