'My Study Experience at Seoul National University of Science and Technology'
I spent half of my final year (Modules 1 & 2) on the Master’s programme Electronic Business (Faculty of Business Informatics), at SeoulTech in the Faculty of IT Management.
Seoul National University of Science and Technology is in the top twenty Korean universities and specialises in technology and engineering although there is a design faculty, foreign languages and even a faculty of medicine.
I flew to Korea at the end of August in time for the beginning of term. Students from the local student club Buddy ISC met us at the airport and took us to the campus. They helped us settle in and showed us the nearest shops, banks and restaurants. Their help was invaluable because most of the university administration staff didn’t speak any English.
There were 50 or so foreign students, about half of whom were Chinese, a fifth Russian, there were guys from the US, Czech Republic, Finland, Colombia, Turkey, Mongolia and other places. We were each given a student buddy to help us find our way around the university, deal with administrative matters and just to show us the town and be our guides as much as they could.
Overall the students from ISC made things very nice for us. They organised events and excursions throughout our stay — orientation, film viewings, outings to restaurants, saunas, museums, trips out of town, mountain hikes, stuff like that.
The campus is pretty big but it is well laid out.
Our course, accommodation and food were all paid for by the university. Thank you HSE!
Like at HSE, SeoulTech has midterm exams, the only difference is that classes carry on without interruption. To encourage students to keep going through this stressful period they give out treats on the campus grounds, rolls, juice, ice-cream and soup in the evenings.
Exchange students can choose between courses in English or Korean.
Teachers in Korea are very friendly with the students and socialise with them freely.
Besides college life, there is lots of time to go around the city. Seoul has a lot to see and the timetable allows for you to take Friday off for example to travel to other cities and countries on the weekends.
I am grateful to all the Korean students who helped us and entertained us. Many of them have become my close friends. The teachers were always ready to help us and their attentiveness to students is really special. Of course, a big thankyou goes to HSE for the amazing opportunity to have this life experience of studying in another country.
Anna Khoklova, 2nd year graduate student on the Master’s Programme Electronic Business