KAIST International Relations Team (IRT) released earlier this month their 2011 Spring Semester Program, complete with activities for the KAIST community. The main goal of this program is to increase cross-cultural awareness and provide opportunities for the international students, faculty and spouses to learn more about Korean culture, meet new friends and better enjoy their time at KAIST. IRT also intends to reduce the cultural shock and address the difficulties faced by the international newcomers and exchange students by hosting a broad range of events, from cultural trips to garage sales. The program also included a list of various active student clubs which are open to international members. This semester welcomed about 150 new international members to the KAIST community, including 60 exchange students.

▲ Participants pose for a group photo | KAIST IRT

According to Professor Yong-Taek Im, associate vice-president of special projects and institutional relations, when international students were asked what the biggest difficulty they had in Korea was, the most common answer was that “they want to interact more with the local community and Korean students.” Professor Im also added that “More surprisingly, they asked us to get them motivated to learn the Korean culture and language.” To address those difficulties, IRT is providing three one-month-long Korean language courses subdivided into different proficiency levels to better suit students from the most varied backgrounds. Different field trips to cultural spots throughout Korea add to the range of events.

The program got good reviews from international members of KAIST community. Gerelmaa Batchuluum (Senior, Mathematical Sciences, Mongolia) said to the KAIST Herald that “Korean language classes and cultural exploration events are very helpful to get to know the culture and actually get used to it. I especially liked the cross-cultural events, which are a very good idea in getting to know other foreign and Korean students, since we don't have much of a social life on campus.” The program was also commended by the exchange students. “It is really great to get all this information and more, particularly for us exchange students who, for example, are not always aware of KAIST clubs. It is definitely going to help with the communication and integration of foreigners in KAIST,” added Emeline Soichi (Chemical Engineering, Université de Technologie de Compiègne, France).

Aside from listing the new events, the program also included well-known events such as KAIST One, International Movie nights and the International Food Festival, for example, which are also aimed for the Korean students. Tomas Scherrer (Master Student, ITTP program, Brazil) said that “particularly, I like going to KAIST One lectures, and I am also eager to join the Korean language classes. But it is important to bring Korean students to KAIST international events too, because it still seems like most of these events are ‘foreigner’ events. It would be great to have our Korean friends join us in the culture exchange.”

Although the variety and quality of cross-cultural activities were well-liked, the existence of the program itself was the fact that drew the best reviews. Abdul Kim Abdul Aljebouri (Computer Science, University of Toronto, Canada) mentioned that “it's really good because I can finally know what is happening around. Last semester I was usually surprised a day before or on the day of things happening. It's always good to know what is happening.” Gerelee, Emeline and Tomas also agreed with Abdul, mostly regarding the fact that it was not very commonplace to get event information beforehand. “The divulgation of this program will probably increase the overall participation,” added Tomas. According to Professor Im, there are activities at the International center roughly every day, so he expects “more participation and support from the KAIST community for further raising our cultural sensitivity and global friendship” from now on.

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