While the itinerary of most days on the trip consists of different locations and activities, on day five of Plus3 South Korea, we had the opportunity to spend the entire day with faculty and staff at Yonsei University. Throughout the day, we had the chance to tour the entire campus, as well as go on private tours of the engineering labs and graduate research facilities. The campus was beautiful, I got to meet a great number of friendly and distinguished students and faculty, and even received a tour of a new biotech startup.
Campus and Engineering Lab Tours
Upon arriving at Yonsei university, we had around 30 minutes of time before the tour started where we could explore. My group decided that we would do our best to finally purchase the ever-elusive souvenir hoodies at the campus book store. Not only were we able to find a variety of fashionable university apparel, but along the way we discovered the international student administration center. In what would later be confirmed on campus tours, we observed that Yonsei is one of the most international universities in the world, culminating in a foreign student acceptance rate of just one percent.
During our official campus tours with student ambassadors, we had the chance to meet several professors and students that were alumni of the University of Pittsburgh or originally from the United States. While all of the students felt that their work was very intense, they also felt that Yonsei had prepared them to enter the real world with industry approved course work, plentiful extracurriculars, and student body unity efforts put forth by the administration. One of the students studying materials science in the engineering described how freshmen are required to live in the dorms and participate in community-building activities so that they have an opportunity to develop their interpersonal and social skills.
Yonsei University has as unique past with the Shogun Dynasty that has fostered an environment for cooperation between the university administration, the South Korean government, and industry giants like LG and Hyundai. While exploring the engineering school, we learned about majors funded by these Fortune 500 companies that lead directly to company jobs upon completion of the university program. During a comprehensive review of the biotech sector of the engineering school, we had the opportunity to see how industry partnerships have lead to generous research donations and entrepreneurial initiatives at Yonsei. One particular startup, cellArtgen, has raised over $16 million in funding as they look to use stem cells to produce donor organs. The Yonsei environment is one that breeds job-ready, social, globally aware college students ready to become CEOs and high-ranking employees at a myriad of companies across the globe. As a student from Pitt, the opportunity to witness this international university was one that has left an indelible mark on me, and I look forward to working with Yonsei alum in the computer engineering industry.
Dinner in Hongdae
While South Oakland is what I would consider to be a classic urban American college town bustling with activity, I can guarantee that no college student in the US has ever experienced a town like Hongdae. Imagine if Times Square was more compact, but yet stretched on for blocks and blocks with a majority of college students roaming the streets. Hongdae is a unique intersection between a traditional Korean market and a vibrant college town. The abundance of restaurants, market stores, and night life makes it certainly overwhelming, but provides endless fun in a manner that doesn’t break the bank. While our group took the time to enjoy some of the best sauces I have ever had on Korean fried chicken, we saw about two Pitt campuses worth of college students. In South Korea the academic environment may be very competitive, but at the college level, the students certainly know how to work hard and play harder.