No longer concentrating only on US, China and Japan. Diversification to Netherlands, Finland, Poland, Slovenia, etc
1,262 international students from 37 countries including 82 exchange students studying at Yeungnam University
[Mar 8, 2011]
“Slovenia may not be a familiar country to most people, but as a student majoring in sociology, it is a country that is very fascinating. I think it is a great fortune and opportunity to be able to study at the University of Ljubljana where the new star in philosophy since the 90s, Slavoj Zizek, is working as a professor. I will study hard and give a good impression of Korean university students."
Choi, Byeong-jun (23), a junior majoring in sociology at Yeungnam University, set off for Slovenia in late February. He will be studying this semester as an exchange student at Slovenia's best university, which is known for its academic traditions of its culture of debating freely and its academic independence to the point that each and every scholar is said to be a separate research institute.
Last summer, Yeungnam University invited 102 students from 14 countries
and hosted the International Youth Festival for seven days.
This event acted as a window to connect the province and Yeungnam University with the rest of the world.
Like Choi, there are a total of 210 Yeungnam University students being sent off to sister schools overseas on scholarships for studying abroad. Because overseas scholarship students are exempt from all tuition at the local school according to the sister school agreement with Yeungnam University and since they can also earn credits, students compete fiercely for this opportunity. This semester, Yeungnam University selected a total of 210 overseas scholarship students - 144 exchange students, 62 being sent to overseas campus, 2 for double diplomas, and 1 each in the language training course by invitation of the Taiwanese government and the language training course at the Confucius Academy. In late February, they were sent to 55 schools across the world.
The nations of the universities were also diversified to 12 countries. In the past, they were concentrated to the US, Japan and China, but now they are being sent to France, Germany, Finland, as well as Eastern European nations such as Poland and Slovenia. When considering that just three years ago in the first semester of 2008 overseas scholarship students were sent to seven countries such as the US and Asian countries, it shows just how much the global partnership has expanded and diversified.
Meanwhile, in this semester, there are a total of 1,262 international students from 37 countries at Yeungnam University including 82 foreign exchange students from 10 countries including the US, Japan, China, Vietnam, Netherlands, Poland, Finland, and Slovenia.
Yeungnam University has also opened the School of International Studies that conduct classes only in English for international students, while also offering various culture experience and exchange programs to act as a 'national PR center' to let the world know about Korea.