Exciting College Life (ECL) and Happy College Life (HCL): classes that no freshman knows about when they come to KAIST, and classes that upperclassmen say are misleading since they are neither happy nor exciting. Established in 2011, the goal of HCL and ECL classes is to help freshmen adjust to KAIST life. A big part of the success of these classes depend on its proctors, acting as facilitators for class activities and inviting their students to have meals together. This fall semester marks the first time that international students have been selected as proctors. This is a good first step to increasing opportunities for international students and a good opportunity to integrate internationals and Koreans better.
In previous years, all classes had two Korean proctors, with the job postings by the School of Freshman not translated and explicitly “only for Korean”. Each of the international classes (Classes 27-31) had a Freshman International Support (FIS), international students who are in charge of helping the international students in their class. This semester, although all proctor recruitment for the international classes were in Korean, the School of Freshman stated that foreigners who are fluent in Korean can apply. Some FIS applicants were also offered positions as proctors, which most of them happily accepted, seeing it as a good opportunity to interact with and guide freshmen.
There are speculations that hiring international proctors has been long considered but faced criticisms within administrative teams. This new model of one Korean and one international proctor in the international classes is said to be on a trial period, with the possibility of continuing, or even expanding, to be decided based on its effectiveness and feedback from the proctors and the freshmen. Nevertheless, the Student Life Team and the School of Freshman took a good first step. Hiring international students as proctors opens up more on-campus jobs to international students and is a sign that equal opportunities for international students is slowly being realized. More importantly, having one international and one Korean proctor is a potential solution to the international-Korean divide present even in international classes.
The first batch of international proctors are excited and happy to help the new batch of freshmen, both international and Korean. Although fluency in Korean was required, Class 28 Proctor Sabreena Khan was pleasantly surprised that most important announcements are translated to English and communication in English is used to accommodate them. She says that becoming an FIS was one of her goals while in KAIST, and being selected as proctor makes her happy and hopeful that international students are receiving equal opportunities. Bryan Nathanael, a proctor of Class 30, shares that the main difficulty so far is encouraging students to speak up and participate in ECL classes. He hopes his class freshmen will become more comfortable in talking to him about any issues, concerns, or questions. Adil Hassan Khan, proctor of Class 29, thinks that being an international student himself, he can relate better and give more empathetic advice to the international freshmen in his class. Class 31 proctor Fuad Samadov is hopeful that this model will be continued given the positive response so far, and advises international students interested in becoming proctors to try changing their mindset in terms of thinking about and finding solutions to problems they encounter, such as socialization and the difficulties of the online semester.
The next step is including internationals as Freshman Program Designers (FPD). FPDs are integral to the ECL and HCL experience, designing materials and activities for the classes. Including international students in this team can bring more diverse and inclusive activities and ideas from different cultures. It is important to introduce and understand the background of international and international-Korean students in each of the ECL and HCL activities, and having that perspective within the team designing the programs is essential. Although communication may be an issue, this new batch of international proctors is proving that it can be overcome.
In 2019, as an FIS, I was told that hiring international proctors and FPDs would be difficult because of the language barrier and that it would be more troublesome to make adjustments and accommodations. I am happy that the Student Life Team and School of Freshman have changed this mindset, and I am cautiously optimistic that they will continue to be more open and inclusive.