제 14 호 Chances Abroad Sangmyung Offers
- 작성일 2022-05-27
- 좋아요 Like 0
- 조회수 11021
KICKER: COVER STORY (GLOBAL PROGRAMS)
Chances Abroad Sangmyung Offers
by Yeong-Jin Choi, Editor
COVID-19 has influenced our lives catastrophically*. Some crashed or lost their jobs, and some lucky people had made a fortune by launching a good business. COVID-19 changed students’ lives as well. Students, too, were banned from almost every opportunity of experiences abroad, such as getting the chance of being a returnee student or granting an internship at Disney. These global programs were what Sangmyung University offered to students before Corona. Even though Corona has not come to an end yet, the government has removed the ensemble* prohibition order, allowing the school to restart giving students chances to be educated abroad. However, every program has a different schedule, recruitment period, and qualifications. Since many students are unfamiliar with global programs, I would like to share important information in the article that students should acknowledge if they are interested in taking the chance of enlisting in global programs later.
*Catastrophically: Causing sudden and very great harm or destruction
*Ensemble: A group of things or people acting or taken together as a whole
Two Types of Global Programs
Global programs Sangmyung offers can be divided into two large sectors, the SMU Global Industries Study Tour and exchange student related programs. In this article, I would like to share what kinds of programs Sangmyung offers to students and share information that is critical yet easy to miss for students who are interested in going abroad for further education.
The SMU Global Industries Study Tour
To start with, the SMU Global Industries Study Tour is for students who are willing to comprehend and learn more information about technological development on industries nowadays by visiting global industries themselves. The purposes of the global industries tour program are illustrated on our school website as below: to obtain useful and helpful information of getting a job overseas by attending seminars with the locals, having motivations on learning foreign languages like English by visiting schools Sangmyung is affiliated* with, and to facilitate having a global mind for hiring abroad.
The SMU Global Industries Study Tour in 2019, https://me2.kr/85a3e
Both Seoul and Cheonan students of Sangmyung are qualified to sign up for the program. Only 40 students are allowed to go, and students should apply for the program in September every year. Plus, approximately seven to nine days are spent during the program. However, it is very critical to know that the SMU Global Industries Study Tour has stopped for now because of COVID-19. The last time the program was held was in 2019, and the last team visited Seattle and Portland in the USA. For students who are looking for further information about the SMU Global Industries Study Tour, please visit this link, download the e-Book attached, and read it: https://bit.ly/3G1jG08.
*Affiliate: To cause a group to become part of or form a close relationship with another, usually larger, group, or organization
Global Exchange Students Programs
Global interchange programs contain five small categories. The first and second programs are a regular exchange student program and graduated exchange student program. Students who qualify for all of the options who attended more than two semesters in Sangmyung and are left more than one semester after they finish the exchange program and have over 3.0 GPA out of 4.5 are allowed to sign up for it. Every program requires official linguistic test result such as over 61 on TOEFL for Anglosphere universities like America, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and so on. For English-speaking regions, students are required to sign up for the program in between November and December, and the rest of the regular exchange programs recruit students in between August and September every year.
What is special about the program is that students pay their college tuition at Sangmyung, not the school they go to. Plus, the credits obtained at a foreign school are accepted by Sangmyung as well. Students can gain 12 to 17 credits per semester, and the grades they get are marked as “P” in Sangmyung and are excluded from students’ average grades. Do note that the list of possible universities that students can choose to go uploaded in the school homepage may differ annually.
Another exchange program student can attend is graduated exchange student program. What differs from regular exchange program is that students must pay the college tuition to the school they go abroad. However, students’ monetary pressures are reduced by scholarships Sangmyung grants. Another difference is the list of universities students get to choose from, and do not forget that the list of universities students can pick which the Sangmyung official website shows can change from time to time as well as the regular exchange student program.
Double Degree
Double degree is the third type of global program Sangmyung offers. It is the program in which students are educated for two years in Sangmyung and two years in schools that are in a sisterhood* relationship with SMU. General qualifications are: first, students must have already obtained 65 credits within two or more years at the time they are signing up for participation. Second, their average GPA must be over 3.0. Third, they can only register to majors that are similar to the majors that sisterhood universities have. Lastly, students must have the official linguistic test grades to prove their ability in the fluency of the language. For English-speaking universities, students can register for the program in between every November and December. For Sinosphere* universities, students can apply for the program in between August and September annually. Colleges available in this program too, can change every year, so if you are planning on getting a double degree this year, do not forget to check the announcement from the school.
*Sisterhood: A strong feeling of friendship and support among women who are involved in action to improve women’s rights
*Sinosphere: East Asian cultural sphere, states within East Asia and Southeast Asia that have been influenced significantly by various dynasties and republics of China in terms of literary traditions, cultures, religions, social norms, and political systems
Linguistic Exchange Program
The fourth inferior* group of global programs Sangmyung offers is linguistic exchange program. This is one kind of an exchange student, but it only takes for one semester, and students can only obtain up to 12 credits including the credits students get in short-term vacation programs. In this program, students must pay tuition to both Sangmyung and the college of sisterhood in English-speaking universities. The school provides up to three million won for students who are willing to sign up for the program, but in my opinion, I think it still takes a lot of money for linguistic exchange programs. The special thing about this program, though, is that students who are currently taking time off from school can sign up too, and it does not require any official linguistic test grades. Other than that, qualifications are almost the same as other global programs. Students can register for it in between every November to February for English-speaking universities, and for Sinosphere colleges, students can sign up in every March to April, August and September.
*Inferior: Lower, or of lower rank
Short-Term Vacation Program
The last group of global programs is a short-term vacation program. It is held twice every year, during summer and winter vacation, and students who are qualified can register for the program every March to April and September to October. After the program, students get three credits. This year, specially, since students were so eager to enlist in the program, the school offered new universities quite urgently for further opportunities to those who failed to be selected by their chosen one. Sangmyung offers some level of scholarship for this program too, but the money differs with every school, so it is mandatory for students to look for further details after the announcement.
COVID-19 seriously demolished many students’ dreams of being educated abroad. Some might have dreamed of being an exchange student, and some could have wanted to obtain a double degree. It is truly unfortunate that global programs have completely stopped for two years. However, as our school is trying very hard to offer more chances to students this year, I hope that every Sangmyung student who wants to study or have a gleeful experience overseas will grab valuable chances by keeping an eye on school announcements and never miss the recruitment period.
Sources:
https://www.smu.ac.kr/ko/life/globalPrograms.do#tab6958
https://www.smu.ac.kr/ko/life/internationalExchangePrograms.do#tab6960