Every passing semester has seen increasing internationalization of our campus, and it requires a lot of steps to be taken to see that the interests of international students are met. A huge part of this is helping international students to adapt to Korean life and culture. KAIplus is a nonprofit voluntary organization in KAIST contributing to this very purpose. The KAIST Herald met with the president of KAIplus, Doctor Young Hee Lee, to discuss the organization’s objectives and future plans.
Could you briefly introduce yourself and KAIplus?
Hello, everyone! My name is Young Hee Lee, and I am the president of KAIplus. KAIplus is a nonprofit voluntary organization comprising of the spouses of KAIST professors who want to contribute by helping the KAIST family. We target not only international students but also local students to establish a happy campus life. KAIplus intends to enhance the understanding and cooperation between the international and local communities.
KAIplus is a very new organization. Could you tell us how it started and the events that are being conducted?
KAIplus is the brainchild of KAIST President Sung Mo Kang and his wife Mia Kang. They wanted to take some steps towards bridging the gap between international and Korean students, and also work towards establishing a happy campus. KAIplus was established last September, and we have been continuously trying to improve the range of our activities to hear the voices of both the international and Korean communities.
At present, we have two regular events - Wednesday Morning Coffee and Korean-in-Action. For Wednesday Morning Coffee, we get together in the Global Lounge in the International Center and have an open discussion on how to promote caring and sharing. Korean-in-Action is a one-on-one buddy program where we match a KAIplus Korean member with a foreign student who wishes to learn the Korean language or culture. It is held from Monday to Friday between 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. We plan to conduct Korean culture trips and home stays for International students. We want to see KAIplus becoming a support for International students not just in terms of understanding the culture, but also regarding any academic or career decision problems that they may be facing. Since most of us at KAIplus have lived abroad and can freely communicate in English, we really want to dissolve the language barrier that exists on campus, thereby helping the International community to think of KAIST as “home away from home.”
What are some difficulties that KAIplus faced? How do you plan to resolve them?
I think that the biggest problem we face is expanding our reach to all students on campus. We are relatively well-known among the International graduate student community; however, we are still far behind in terms of reaching out to the undergraduate student population. Most of them have morning classes and a very strict schedule that do not allow them to participate in our events. But undergraduate students are the ones who need our care most because they are so young and face many difficulties away from their families, the most potent problems being resolving financial issues and obtaining personal advice. To help international students who face pressing financial problems, we award two KAIplus scholarships every semester. We will try to reach out to undergraduate students by promoting KAIplus during the orientation at the beginning of the fall semester when many international freshmen join KAIST. We will urge them to bring up any problems that they face on campus. By being there for students always, I believe we can initiate happiness and satisfaction in their hearts.
What are the long-term plans of KAIplus?
The motto of KAIplus is “Together we care and share.” We want to see students on campus happy, which is essential to have a good life in an overseas university. Human life is too short and precious to be spent away in dissatisfaction. Tying all the strings, bridging gaps between communities on campus, and promoting mutual understanding and the spirit of sharing are the key points towards achieving a happy campus. Our final goal is to fulfill the dream of “Happy KAIST,” leading to an all-round development of the KAIST family.