Author Archives: Gayoung K.

Studying Abroad Trends in South Korea

Posted on by

Hello, all!

I was glad that everyone really responded to my presentation and questioned a lot today. 🙂

In summary,

Republic of Korea has the highest number of students studying abroad per capita in the world. (By Korean Ministry of Education, 223,908 in 2016, counting only higher education students. And SEVIS by Numbers, 74,817 coming to the US, counting all F&M Visa holders) Many of them mostly study abroad for Bachelor’s and Master’s degree.

The number of students going out is increasing by years gradually.

Major destinations are the US, China, and other Asian countries (Japan, Philippines).

According to SEVIS by Number, only 22% of Korean students study STEM field in the US.

According to Statistics Korea (the government office for statistics), 55% of a social survey respondent said yes to send their children to study abroad, 32% No, and 13% said I don’t know.

Among those 55% yes, the three top reasons why they want to send their children to study abroad is: 1) For nurturing international/cosmopolitan perspective, 2) For my children’s talents (in case of arts, and music), and 3) Because of unsatisfying education system.

And many of student studied abroad do not want to go back to Korea and this cause huge brain drain and education deficit. In response to this, Korean government spent a lot of money and policy for attracting foreign students and colleges and for establishing an education hub in several port cities, but so far nothing worked.

And I looked up the tuition system of Korea since I had no idea and want to add the tuition of several top ranked universities of Korea. The tuition was different by universities, each school within a university, major, how many credit you take per semester and what year you are in. The data is in 2016.

(using exchange rate 1 dollar = 1150 won)

Seoul National University (public) : average $5200 (per year, but it varied a lot from school to school. For example, the liberal arts school was $4400, but the medical school was $8600)

Korea University (private): average $7200 (per year, but this university also varied a lot. For example, the medical school was $10500, the engineering school was $8400, and the school of arts was $7800. But the liberal arts school was $6200. And also, the first year student needed to pay entrance fee of $900.)

Yonsei University (private): average $7800 (per year. It did not vary much among schools, just the medical school was about $10500. The first year student need to pay entrance fee of $860)

Please comment me below if you have any further questions. 🙂

Have a good day!

 

The actual powerpoint file is here:

Studying Abroad Trends in South Korea-2idklc5

The Usefulness of Film Studies and Analysis in a Higher Education Institution

Posted on by

Hello, today, I am writing about a filmmaker, Beeban Kidron.

Beeban Kidron is a British filmmaker, best known for directing Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004). She has also produced documentaries, especially about troubling social issues, as seen in Hookers, Hustlers, Pimps and their Johns (1993) and Sex, Death and the Gods (2011), a film about “devadasi,” or Indian “sacred prostitutes”. Most important of all, Kidron founded FILMCLUB, a charity organisation that allows schools to screen films at no cost, and to discuss and review these films for educational purposes. FILMCLUB uses film as a pedagogical tool for students to explore ideas of community, society and culture. Kidron believes that film has the power to improve millennial students’ learning ability in diverse ways — viscerally, emotionally and intellectually.

In my opinion, the fundamental strength of Kidron’s project lies in her belief that film offers a chance for us to engage in a communal learning experience which we all need in this increasingly divided world. Film momentarily unites an audience through a shared process of watching and learning about other worlds and cultures. Even though films are produced in a variety of languages, it has a unique ability to elicit empathy in the viewer. These features are especially relevant for the younger generation, where movies enlarge their worldviews, heighten their understanding of who they are, and help them make sense of the world. Kidron said: “People have a right to have their lives witnessed. If we coexist with the systems that abuse people, then we have a duty to understand it.”

Kidron’s message made me think about the effectiveness of using film to promote a more international culture in higher education institutions. I think it will be very helpful for an international university like Columbia, which can do a lot more to create opportunities for minority representation and cultural interaction among students. Similar to Angelica’s blog post on “Chimamanda’s Danger of a Single Story”, I think it is important to expose students to a range of cultural narratives and stories. Film is perhaps the best way to promoting and publicising unity across cultural differences because it is financially low in cost (anyone with an iPhone can start filming) and is easily disseminated.

What do you think? As a SIPA student, I also want to question how much you feel belonged to Columbia? Do you feel that the school can do more to foster a communal or international identity among students?

 

Here is the link to her TED talk:

Art, Racism, and Higher Education

Posted on by

Hello, all!

My name is Gayoung Kim and I am in the art group. While googling, Timothy and I found an interesting dance performance to share with everybody. It is called, Octavia’s Brood: Riding the Ox Home, performed by an anti-racist choreographer, Meghan Abadoo. She, as a black woman dance performer, tries to reveal the identity of black womanhood (It is all performed by black female dancers) and to create a space for freely sharing the vulnerability of black women with the witnesses who watch the performance. Throughout the performance, one movement captured my sight really strongly when the performers try to run forward but they keep failing because of cloth tying their bodies to the walls from 26’-33’. (The whole performance is 46 minutes, but I think this part is the highlight.) The dancers keep trying to reach forward but they tumble and fall, and I felt like that is the reality of racism and gender discrimination.

Meghan Abadoo also wrote a short essay about the subtle systematic injustice in society and how University of Maryland tries to deal with it. She points out that it is a widely held misconception that racial inequality does not exist anymore because race-based discrimination is illegal and shares the moment when she participated the Words of Engagement intergroup dialogue program at University of Maryland. There, she had profound experience gathering with people of different racial backgrounds, listening divergent viewpoints and stories.

Personally, as an Asian female student, I have not experienced specific occasion, but her words made me think about how race and gender are still the issue to resolve and how those are under-estimated as a problem. I think this performance is a worth while piece to watch.

You can watch the performance here:
http://drum.lib.umd.edu/handle/1903/18432
And her essay, you can read it here:
http://terp.umd.edu/sights-unseen-2/#Abadoo

And here some inviting questions to think for you all;

  • Do you think racial or gender discrimination is still prevalent in US higher education institutions today?
  • What do you think are the merits and limitations of Abadoo’s project of using dance as a medium to champion notions of racial and gender equality in HE institutions? 
  • Are you able to think of any other ways for HE institutions to leverage their academic and cultural influence to advocate social causes in the world? How might these ways or approaches differ in an Asian HE context?