Overseas volunteer work, internships, language courses, backpacking trips, etc
Investment of 800 million won including university funding, raise global competitiveness of YU students
[Jun 13, 2012]

 
 The YU overseas volunteer corps that were dispatched to the Ukraine posing for a photo with university students from around the world

 Kim, Young-hoon (26), a senior in the YU Department of Civil Engineering, will depart to volunteer at Erzurum, an urban region in eastern Turkey on the 26th. He will be the team leader for the first group being sent off as part of the overseas volunteer programs conducted jointly by YU and Korea UNESCO. He stated, "I am very happy that I will be able to gather with university students from all around the world to practice 'love without borders' for a month to experience love for humanity as well as global life." He added, "I am looking forward to rediscovering myself at the other part of the world at this juncture where I am about to end my university life."

 YU (president Lee, Hyo-soo) will send about 860 students, including Kim, to different parts of the world during this summer break. This is to enhance their global competitiveness and to give them an opportunity of living education.

 
 The best known summer overseas program of YU, in which 800 million won will be invested in, is overseas volunteering, which is in its eleventh year. About 1,700 students were able to practice 'love without borders' in different parts of the world through this program. This summer, 98 students will be sent to Turkey, France, Armenia, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy and Laos for three to seven weeks. YU will provide 130 million won for airfare, lodging, purchasing of materials, education and training expenses, and domestic transportation fares so that more students will be able to receive the experience, and also give 1 credit for overseas volunteering.

 Another popular program is 'WTW' (Window to the World) in which students choose their theme for themselves and go out into the world on a backpacking trip supported by YU. WTW program is offered twice a year during vacations and the competition is four-to-one. The 20th batch this year includes 114 students in 43 teams. 600,000 to 1,50,000 won will be provided to each student in the WTW team.

 74 students will be dispatched to companies, embassies and research centers of the US, Paraguay, Oceania, Indonesia and Uzbekistan through an overseas internship program where they will gain on-site experience, learn languages, and earn credits. YU will invest 50 million won to help selected students to settle down, while also giving credits.

 About 300 students will be sent to short-term overseas cultural experience and language training programs by each department, which is the first time to be conducted this year. YU invested 200 million for this program. In addition, 300 million won will also be invested in the 'Summer OPP (Summer Outbound Pilot Program)' by YU, 250 students will be dispatched. In the Summer OPP, English scholarship students will be selected for freshmen and sophomores and they may study English in the Philippines for a month during summer break to makes it easy for participation in various overseas exchange programs in their junior and senior years. Also, 23 students of the Chunma Honors School student and Chunma scholarship student will be given the opportunity for language programs for up to 6 weeks at the University of Nebraska in the US.

 YU president Lee, Hyo-soo said, "Think about how unfortunate it would be to have to spend the entire campus life while concentrating for the so-called 'specs', such as GPAs and official language test scores." He added, "Our university will focus on providing support so that more students will be able to go out into the bigger world to dream bigger dreams and have a broader perspective."

 
 YU overseas volunteers teaching English and math to elementary school children in Bangalore, India.