By
Jiyoung Shin
It has been 3 years
since I started my university life in Holland after graduating from high school.
Thinking that I haven’t had any opportunities to experience Korean
universities, I applied for a Korean university for my student exchange
program. I would like to talk about a few things I realized in comparison to Holland
while spending the 2012 Fall semester as a university student in Korea.
First of all, there
was a tremendous difference on tuition fees. In Holland, the government sets
the statutory tuition fee each year and therefore there is a fixed amount that
Dutch universities can request to students. Although non-EU students have to
pay far more, the tuition fee for Dutch and EU students has been set at € 1771 (approximately 2,500,000 won)
this year. 10 month installments are also possible. The website of the Korean university
that I studied this semester as an exchange student states that the tuition fee
is 3,400,000 won per semester. This means that the Korean students are paying the
tuition fee that is 2.7 times higher than that of Dutch students.
In Holland, a
considerate number of students juggle their studies with work just like it is
in Korea. Although Dutch people have to pay maximum 52% of their income as tax,
they got a nice welfare system. The Dutch students are able to use the public
transportation for free during the week days and receive monthly subsidies from
the government. So there are many students who make living expenses and rent
fees without getting help from their parents.
The class also differs between two
countries. Mostly, the students in Holland have smaller options for selecting
their own courses since the required courses per term usually fixed. Only
seeing at the number of available courses make the Korean students appear to
have a broader option for selecting their own courses. But I realized
throughout the course registration period that it is not so good as it looks.
One second was enough. In case of failure to a fast-click, you have to bear the
pain of sitting in an unwanted course for 4 months.
The difference also
exists in the class style. At my university, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the
class per one course is usually divided into the lecture and tutorial. In the
lecture, the professor explains the academic concepts and conveys relevant
knowledge to the entire students. On the other hand, the tutorial is a small
class of 15 to 20 students where the discussion and presentation based on the
lecture take the central role. Most of students consider tutorials rather
boring compared to lectures. Therefore, the professors spend endless pains on
making lectures more interesting and interactive.
In Korea, however, I
got an impression that the class style is more standardized. The student
participation has been increased by the discussion and presentation. But the
structure of the class did not depart from the standardized lecture-presentation-discussion
pattern. In particular, the courses taught in English brought upon more frustrations.
The class proceeded without any questions nor answers because of the
uncomfortableness in English. Although English courses are vital for the
internationalization of the university, it made me question whether they are
really necessary even when the stress is increased and communication is
prevented.
Having watched the
Korean students, I can confidently say that they are unbeatable in terms of the
diligence. In the courses taught in Korean, which has no language barrier, I
often saw students who had already read others’ presentation paper at home and prepared
questions in advance. When I told this story to other foreign exchange students
living in the same dormitory as me, they all gave their thumbs up for the
thorough preparation of Korean students. But Korean students seemed extremely busy
and tired, more than anyone else. Soaring tuition fees, stresses with foreign
languages and worries on finding a job…. What they need now is a change in the
university education instead of healing.
This article has also been published in <왜냐면> of Hankyorae newspaper.