The largest scale ever in Korea
2016 KU ISC ends successfully by holding a completion ceremony

On August 4, KU held its completion ceremony of the International Summer Campus (henceforth ISC) at the SPPEX Hall located in the LG-POSCO Business School Building.

Korea University’s ISC has garnered a lot of attention due to the largest international summer campus participation ever in Korea with 1,860 students coming from 33 countries.

Consisting of college students at home and abroad and pre-college students, the KU ISC started its 6-week course on June 27 with prestigious professors and scholars from, including but not limited to, Stanford University, the University of Cambridge, Cornell University, the University of Oxford, the University of Tokyo, and the National University of Singapore teaching over 120 courses related to business administration, economics, politics, law, humanities, sciences, engineering, arts, and many more.

Besides attending lectures, the participating students were offered first-hand Korean culture immersion experiences including temple stays, K-Pop culture, traditional Korean cooking, Taekwondo, and a DMZ visit. Moreover, students were also provided with internship opportunities to work in large conglomerates, state-run companies, or public offices in Korea.

Professor Kathryn Weathersby  from John Hopkins University who taught world history and South-North Korean relations in historical context at the 2016 KU ISC said, “The experience of teaching students from many different countries gathered at one place gave me great stimulus. I would say that it is sort of like a challenge as we had to learn to communicate in new ways. I believe that this was a worthy experience for both the students and faculty.” She added her assessment of the ISC by saying, “ISC is a successful model which is like a melting pot where a great number of students and faculty get together to merge and create harmony.”

Oleg Avramenko, a student from the U.S. selected as the most outstanding student expressed his satisfaction of the ISC by saying, “I took courses in international marketing and international trade and economic relations and the quality of the courses and the faculty were excellent. It was a bit challenging as the courses were different from the ones that I took back in the U.S. However, the support and friendliness that I have received from my classmates and professors help me to overcome the difficulties that I faced along the way.”

Young Eon Ahn (’16 Department of Life and Science), the vice-president of the Korea University Buddy Association said, “Despite the fact that we come from different backgrounds in terms of culture, language, and country, it was amazing how we were able to share similar thoughts and communicate with each other. I taught my friends many Korean expressions including newly coined words such as ‘kkwulcaym’, meaning totally funny and they loved it.”