While some majors, such as Korean Language and Literature, understandably do not offer many English courses, global fields such as Linguistics, Biotechnology, and Psychology, which are expected to have plenty of English-language courses, seem to be lacking. In order to amplify international student’s voices, The Granite Tower asked five foreign students from different departments about the English course selection in their major.

Alessia Seghini (‘21, Linguistics)

This semester we actually had only four major classes open in English to start off with, but one was replaced with a class in Korean, and another was scheduled at the same exact time as a different English course. I won’t be able to finish my Linguistics degree completely in English, and in fact, this semester I am taking a major elective course in Korean. It takes me around five hours to study twenty slides for that class. As an international student who has to take 42 credits in Linguistics to graduate, I would like to have the same opportunity which Korean students have to choose from more classes without being forced to take many courses in Korean.

Daniela Gutierrez (‘20, Biotechnology)

In my major, there are a lot of English courses that I can choose from. I transferred to KU, so I can complete all my remaining courses in English; however, if I wanted to start my major from the first year, I wouldn’t be able to finish it entirely in English, even though KU is an institution that aspires to be global. I think the welcoming of international students is mostly positive and the people here are friendly and helpful. However, there are no laboratory courses in English, and I am not yet fluent in Korean, which means students like me who need to take those courses will be discouraged from doing so.

Dang Tran Minh Son (‘22, Psychology)

All of my required major courses are taught in Korean, and even though some professors allow international students to take their exams in English, most of them do not, which is disappointing. I think my department should allow international students to do assignments and exams in English for classes conducted in Korean, and I wish that they could empathize with our burden a bit more. I think for someone who majors in something like International Studies, KU might truly seem global, but in our department, it does not really come across that way, so maybe there is some room for improvement.

Rina (‘21, Biomedical Engineering)

Personally, I know Korean and can listen to Korean classes, but there are a lot of foreign students who cannot understand difficult classes, such as Mechanics or Physiology, in Korean. In my major, we usually have only one or two classes in English, and the rest are in Korean. I think I can complete my major without English classes, but not everyone can.

It is really difficult to study science in Korean. Having a few classes in English per semester is not enough for KU to be called a global campus. I think the university should increase the number of English classes per semester, and I do not think it would be that hard in my major because the main language in science is English and I know that almost every professor from the science campus can speak and teach in English.

Sabrina (‘21, Business Administration)

As a student from the School of Interdisciplinary Studies (SIS), I only get assigned my first and second majors after the first year. I noticed that the system for SIS students has many issues, which make class registration even harder for us. On top of that is the burden of having limited English class options. I originally wanted to major in Business and Humanities and Creative Industry, but the second major is offered only in Korean. Even in my current major and secondary major, some of the unique classes I really want to take are offered only in Korean. Honestly, I think it is a good thing to require at least basic Korean proficiency for some compulsory first-year courses since it is so tough to live in Korea without it. I wanted to study in a university with a prominent Korean culture and community, and that’s why I came to Korea, but it doesn’t mean that international students should be excluded so much from campus life based on their Korean level. I would appreciate more opportunities be made available for us.