POSTECH provides numerous opportunities for its students to experience the wideness of the world over the walls of the university and the borders of the country. Unfortunately, many of the students are not aware of these programs and do not take advantage of them. This section is focused on the brief introduction to eight overseas programs at POSTECH. Although some programs do not require many qualifications, others have strict requirements. For these programs, long-term preparation is rather necessary. One of the exemplary ways would be to maintain a good GPA and to prepare for the IBT TOEFL ahead of time.
We tried to put as much information as possible, but there still is much information missing. For more details, go to http://www.postech.ac.kr/international/kor/main.php for programs of the Office of Planning and International Relation. For the programs of the Office of Student Affairs, always pay attention to the announcement.
Student Exchange Program
The Student Exchange Program provides students the opportunity to study in one of the 72 sister universities of POSTECH in 19 countries for one or two semesters. Any student of POSTECH can apply to the program without qualifications. But the scholarship requires strict qualifications. The minimum GPA is 3.3 out of 4.3. The minimum IBT score is 88 and that of IELTS is 6.5. An important thing is that a Summer Session participant cannot apply to the Student Exchange Program. Depending on whether an applicant applies for the spring semester or the fall semester, the application process begins in January or August. The credits that are taken during the Student Exchange Program are recognized in POSTECH. Some schools do not provide the exchange with all departments. For example, only natural science majors can apply to UC Berkeley. This varies each year by each college; therefore potential applicants should always be aware of with the announcements that will be posted near the recruit season.
Study Abroad Program
The Study Abroad Program has the same purpose and guidelines as the Student Exchange Program. It is only that the Study Abroad Program is run by an organization named the Study Abroad Foundation (SAF). Applicants can also apply to colleges that are not sister universities of POSTECH. Also, since the participating colleges are not sister universities, the tuition varies depending on each school. On the current list there are eight schools for which the credits of completed courses are recognized. The applicants can still apply to colleges other than the eight schools in the list as long as the applied schools are on the list of SAF, but the credits are not recognized in POSTECH in this case. The qualification for the scholarship is a 3.3 GPA and an 88 IBT or 6.5 IELTS score at minimum. This is the requirement for the scholarship. The requirement for the application for each school varies. Depending on whether an applicant applies for the spring semester or the fall semester, the application process begins in February or August.
Summer Session
Students can visit one of the sister universities to take the academic courses or participate in the language courses during the summer. The credits taken in the program are recognized in POSTECH as well. To apply, the applicants must have completed at least two semesters. For the academic courses, the applicants should have a 550 PBT score and a 2.5 GPA at minimum. Around three million won is supported as a scholarship. For the language, 2.5 GPA is the only criteria. Around two million won is supported. For both, students who have not participated in other programs are preferred. The applicants can apply only to the sister universities that are in the English speaking countries.
AEARU Student Summer Camp
AEARU stands for the Association of East Asian Research Universities. Seventeen research-oriented institutes from Korea, China, Japan and Taiwan are in the organization. Each year the organization has opened a summer camp for the scholarly and cultural exchange of the elite students since 1997 with all expenses covered by their schools. Each year four to eleven students are picked to participate. The camp goes on for around a week in July or August. The application begins in March.
International Internship Scholarship Program
This program is a scholarship opportunity rather than a direct internship opportunity. Students apply for internships by themselves through the International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience, or any other sources. The applicants may apply to a specific company by themselves. The applicants can only apply for the scholarship when they received the final decision from the corporations to participate in the internship program. The application process begins in January or August; interviews are given in February or September, and the final decision is announced in the same months.
ASEM-DUO
ASEM-DUO was established to increase the exchanges between Asian and European students and professors. The potential participants are undergraduate, graduate students and professors. A Postechian can make exchanges with a EU citizen. Once selected as a participant, he or she is to continue the cultural and scholarly exchange in the visiting university with the provided scholarship for as long as one semester. Each year around two applicants are selected. If the selected applicant is a student, 4,000 Euros are supported. For a professor, 3,000 Euros are supported. The application begins in April or May, and the final decision is announced in June.
Bang Tosie Culture Trip
This trip is run by the donation contributed by that Professor Sung-Yang Bang’s sister, Tosie. Teams of two or more students make plans free of theme. The selected teams receive a scholarship to actualize their plans in summer. The application period is around the beginning of the first semester. The students who are interested should always take a good look at the announcement.
Trip to Global Corporations’ Foreign Branches
This trip is run by the government support. The school picks around 60 participants among the undergraduate students who made great progress in research or received good responses in different mentoring programs. The selected students can visit corporations, such as Google, Samsung, Doosan, CERN or BMW, in the United States or Europe.
Reporter Kim Sung-hwan
