With great anticipation and excitement, the freshmen of Korea University (KU) entered college last March. Eager about their new lives as university students, they light-heartedly attended school. Nonetheless, they now are faced with an unexpected barrier: the freshman seminar. Although it had started with great attempts, it unfortunately did not deliver well to the students.

If one entered KU before 2013, one would not be familiar with Freshman Seminars, as it was established last year. It is a mandatory course for one credit which every freshman of KU currently has to take in order to become a sophomore. In addition, it has been known that those who do not pass it will not be able to graduate from school.

The majority of the seminars’ contents differ among departments and even majors. All of the divisions within the university had arranged various types of seminars and lectures, based on their characteristic of major. However, all of the colleges within KU need to consist of four hours of common seminars such as sex and history education.

Such seminars were arranged by KU in order to give the substantial need in everyday lives that the students might require while attending college. It attempts to give many useful lectures to the newcomers that would help them to adjust to the new environment successfully. In addition, it aims to provide many opportunities for the students to meet their major’s professors as a replacement of the major guidance professor system.

Problems of the Past

As last year was the first time KU had decided to establish mandatory freshman seminars, there was much confusion throughout the student body. First of all, the instructions regarding when to attend the classes were very vague and not delivered well to the students. In fact, the school had notified that there would be a seminar on sex education on the day of the seminar and asked them to come for credit.

“I was very surprised and shocked when I received that text message,” says Kim Seola (’13, English Language and Literature). “I was not aware of such a seminar before and I had other plans. Therefore, my whole schedule became a mess because of that late notification and I had to cancel the prearranged appointment.”

In addition, some students found that the programs of the freshman seminars differing from major to major were unfair. For example, while the Business School made it mandatory for the students to participate in the program to get credit, the College of Liberal Arts did not have any specific requirements.

The professors and lecturers themselves also seemed to be confused about what they were supposed to teach in the class. There were many students who complained about how the professors did not seem ready and how they felt like it was a waste of time. “When I went to the seminar, I constantly wondered why I had come to listen to it because the courses were not organized well and did not give much new information,” says Im Juhyeok (’13, Mechanical Engineering). “I felt like I went there in order to sleep.”

Current Changes

After trying out the freshman seminar for a year, KU had finally decided to further develop the compulsory seminar. One of the things that they changed was to give one credit to everyone who attended it. This was because in the previous year, some students in the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Political Science and Economics did not feel the need to attend it for they could not receive any credits. Thus, in order to encourage them to participate in the seminar, they have made such an amendment.

KU has also tried to prevent the problem of students not being able to listen to the seminars due to having another class at that time by fixing the seminar in the students’ timetables. That way, the students will not be able to add any courses in that specific time. In addition, freshmen would be able to know at what time the seminar starts without having to be notified through e-mails or text messages.

There are some students who find such new seminars useful. According to Park Jeen (’14, Life Sciences and Biotechnology), she finds the content of the seminars very helpful in her daily life. “It is great that we have an opportunity to hear about the different professors’ stories and pieces of advice. I especially find their claims regarding life very helpful and inspiring.”

Unfortunately, complaints still exist as many students raise doubts about the effectiveness of the seminar. “I understand that seminars have been planned out by the university with good purposes,” says Chang Doo Hyuk (’14, Chemistry). However, he adds that they are not carried out successfully which makes many students bored and not want to listen to it. He also confesses that he and many of the students do not really listen to the lectures carefully and that group Kakaotalk becomes more active during the seminar.

Although KU made some attempts to form a seminar that would help the freshmen, it seems that they were only partly successful. Indeed, there were some great amendments, but there are still many areas that the school should improve. Therefore, if the school wants to continue such a seminar, they should also consider various ways to solve the problems that currently exist regarding the program.

▲ A group of students from the College of Life Sciences and Biotechnology listening to a Freshman Seminar. Photographed by Park Ji Won.