Two years have passed since the Residential College (RC) in POSTECH was launched. During the past two years, there have been various improvements in the RC although it was started from scratch. Such developments have been achieved through collaboration with RAs (residential advisors), master professors and the residents of the RC. However, there  are many areas which have to be improved upon since the RC is not yet in completed state. The purpose of the foundation of the RC was to make the dormitory into a place for education for the whole person. Are we going the right way which is consistent with the original purpose? In this article, I, as one of the RAs working during the past two years, would like to talk about how the current state of the RC has been made, and which road we have to select to make a desirable RC in the future.

Actually, Dormitory Building 21, currently being used as the RC, was not constructed for that purpose. Originally, the building had been built as the female students’ dormitory. However, during the construction, the plan for making the RC was presented by the new president and it was passed by the board of directors. Because of this unexpected change, there exist some parts of the building which are not appropriate for the RC. Anyway, the construction of the new dormitory was completed and the first RAs and master professors were selected late in 2007. I, a former member of DOG (currently DICE), have taken charge as the RA of the English floor since then.

Without any preparation process, the first semester of 2008 began and the RC was officially launched. RAs, master professors and staffs concerned with the RC discussed what we should do at that time. With the full support for the RC from the university, it was the RAs’ mission to make meaningful and helpful programs corresponding to the purpose of the RC using that support, as well as organizing the basic structure of the RC.

In the first year, we managed various types of programs experimentally to find appropriate forms for them. We made many programs, such as humanity education by inviting a lecturer from outside of the school, volunteer service, exercise programs and so on. However, the important problem was that those programs were not organized and structured; thus it was difficult to attract students’ interest. Also, the English floor has a different environment from DOG (currently DICE), making it impossible to apply the existing system of DOG. So, I tried to make the English floor a helpful place for students by approaching a different way. 

After a year of adaptation, we have run more stable RC programs from 2009. In an RA workshop held in the winter vacation, we made a plan for a whole semester so that we could make programs more organized and systemized. For instance, we have fixed two days in a semester as RC Days.  On RC Days, residents are recommended to avoid participating in other programs, and instead we guide them to participate in beneficial RC programs. As a result, the interest and the rate of participation of students have been increased. Even though there remain weak points, we are still trying to find the program which is consistent with the property of the current RC.

Then, what are the key factors we have to consider for making a better RC? I suggest two aspects. The first one is that the RC needs more concrete help or support from the university. There is only one staff member taking charge of the RC in the office of student affairs. There are no staff members who can guide us about creating the contents of the RC. Until now, the content has been made by RAs who are not experts in the making of content. If there are specialists in making the contents of the RC, it will be very helpful for residents of the RC by providing high quality RC programs.

Second, education about the concept of the RC is strongly needed for freshmen. There has not been enough time for RAs to explain to freshmen  detailed information about the RC such as why they have to live there and what its purpose is. Thus, it may be natural for the residents’ rate of participation to be decreased since residents don’t know the exact reason why they have to live in RC and why they must participate in such RC programs. Therefore, we need to give freshmen a detailed explanation about the RC in orientation session before they start their first semester. Moreover, selecting fully motivated, proactive RAs, as well as master professors’ interest and participation are required for making a better RC.

The goal of the RC itself is great and it is an excellent system for making talented students more excellent people. Our RC still has the potential power of improvement. If some parts of the RC are improved, as I mentioned above, the RC will be able to give students more practical, direct help. The future of the RC looks bright.

Kim Dae Hyeok
Computer Science & Engineering 06