On June 11, Man-Sung Yim, Associate Vice President of International Office in KAIST, emailed international students currently staying in their home countries. The email recommended the students not to return to Korea for the upcoming fall semester, explaining that it is highly likely that classes will remain online for Fall 2020. However, before an official announcement from the KAIST administration, which is expected in early July, any extension of the online-based semester for the second half of 2020 cannot be confirmed.
The Spring 2020 semester began with the expectation that online classes would last only for two weeks. As COVID-19 cases in Korea surged in March, this extended for an additional two weeks. Ultimately, KAIST was one of the first tertiary education institutes to decide not to conduct face-to-face classes until further notice. The call was a response to the declaration of COVID-19 as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). The introduction of Zoom and KLMS-based lectures has been relatively disorganized and challenging for most courses, for which the quality of the online alternative still remains questionable. The unprecedented event also sparked many debates between students and staff, including how the exams will be conducted and how grades will be assigned. As COVID-19 cases in Korea began to decrease, KAIST decided to allow face-to-face lectures and exams for a selected few courses.
ISSS’s email on June 11 caused another stir in the international community. The notice strongly recommended students not to return to Korea for the fall semester. The email explained that if returning to KAIST is essential and unavoidable, the returning students must be quarantined in a government facility at their own expense for two weeks, which will cost 1,400,000 KRW. This is in line with current government immigration requirements.
ISSS explained, in a phone interview with The KAIST Herald, that the email does not confirm anything about possibilities of an online semester continuing for Fall 2020. The email was just sent to international students as a “heads-up,” as they are the ones who will be most likely to be affected by any decisions from KAIST. ISSS also mentioned that it will do its best to ensure that students are less vulnerable to any changes made due to COVID-19.
As of now, there is no official statement from the KAIST COVID-19 task force and no email was sent to any of the students currently in Korea. It seems clear that the board of directors are contemplating the question of whether Fall 2020 will operate in a similar fashion via Zoom and KLMS. It is likely that the decision and announcement will be made after the end of this semester, in early July.