WSU rekindles South Korean study abroad program

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Courtesy of Dankook University

Dankook University is Wichita State’s sister school in South Korea.

Wichita State’s student exchange partnership with South Korea’s Dankook University started in the 1980s, but with the decrease in American students going to South Korea and South Korean students coming to Wichita State, the partnership eventually fizzled out.

Within the last two years, WSU students have again started showing an interest in studying abroad in South Korea. WSU has now taken the next step towards rekindling their relationship with Dankook.

Ann Burger, WSU’s associate director of the study abroad and exchange programs, assisted in the months-long process of getting the South Korean exchange agreement signed.

“It goes through the president, the university signs off on it, general counsel; it goes all the way to the governor’s office and board of regents — so, it is a pretty long process of approval when you are doing an exchange agreement,” Burger said. “They get it all signed, it comes back to us, and then we can officially start.”

Due to the looming COVID-19 pandemic, WSU had to cancel a faculty-led trip to South Korea scheduled for the end of May.

Starting next school year, WSU students will tentatively have the opportunity to study abroad in Dankook.

While the exchange program was on hiatus, students who wanted to study in South Korea through the International Student Exchange Program were unable to do so while paying WSU tuition. With this new exchange program, WSU students can once again pay standard tuition while abroad.

“I really wanted to set up a partnership with a university in Korea so they could still pay for WSU’s tuition and fees just like our other partner schools that we have with Japan and Europe and so forth,” Burger said.

Studying abroad with Dankook University has multiple options for anyone who may be considering going to South Korea. They offer study abroad for the spring semester between March 1 to June 20,

Applications will open on Sept. 1 for students who want to study at Dankook during the 2021 spring semester. The deadline to apply is Oct. 30. Fall semester offerings will also be available to students.

Students can also attend during the summer. Dankook University will offer students three programs — The Academic Program, which includes English instructed classes that can be transferred back to WSU for credit during the four-week program; the Korean Immersion Program, which is a three-week intensive program that helps students get fully immersed in Korean culture by learning the language, participating in different activities, and taking field trips; and the Global Village, which is a three-week internship program for teaching conversational language to Dankook students.

“This could be a good stepping stone for the future,” Burger said.

Kayla Clouse, who works with Burger, has had the opportunity to travel to South Korea and teach English for a year. Clouse had no prior experience learning Korean or investing herself in the culture.

“I went through a really hard culture shock, and I’ve traveled a lot. But the culture shock in South Korea was very strong for me,” Clouse said.

She said she enjoyed many parts of the trip, but it took her some time to get acclimated to their culture — especially the food. She said seafood is a staple of South Korean cuisine.

Learning the language was another challenge for Clouse. She said it took her about two months to get used to it. She enjoyed teaching English, but that didn’t come without its own challenges, she said.

“As English teachers, they give you a book and say, “teach it,” Clouse said. “You don’t have to have a teaching degree, so that was really interesting. You have to figure out how to lesson plan on your own because they don’t give you any of that stuff.”

Clouse said she was impressed with the public transportation, as most people get around by bus or train.

“One of my favorite activities there would probably be the festivals,” Clouse said. “They have festivals all the time for everything. Every single weekend, you’ll find a festival somewhere in Korea. Korea is so tiny that you could go to all of them.”

She said her most memorable festival was the Mud Festival.

Clouse had advice for any students considering studying abroad at Dankook.

“Keeping an open mind and knowing that you will eventually figure things out. It may take you a week or two or a month,” she said. “You will figure it out and start to enjoy things.”

Burger offered her insight into what students should do before studying abroad.

“One of the biggest things about being able to adjust to the culture is to learn the culture before they go,” she said. “Try to learn a little bit of the language as well. The more that they know, the more they will get out of the experience and the more they will be welcomed by their host country.”