CBNU exchange student programs are divided into 3 categories like this chart. Most students prefer the Hakgi program because the standards to apply are lower than the sister university program. Sister universities accept only TOEFL, and its score should be more than IBT 80. It is that same as 800~900 on the TOEIC. However, in the case of the Hakgi program, if you have a TOEIC of 600, you can apply for it. Also, you can apply for it using a mock TOEIC score from CBNU.
  As we can see, the programs are complicated, and here are two students who were damaged from university abroad because they didn’t look for information carefully. An anonymous student was an exchange student of the Beijing Language and Culture University. She expressed her complaints, “I didn’t have any orientation about the exchange program of the sister university, and I did all of the tasks by myself except for the dormitory and air tickets. After my return, I had a bad grade in my one of classes, so I tried to delete it and retake a similar class in CBNU. That’s because we could delete classes by the grade abandonment system at that time. Anyway, there wasn’t any similar class.” Heo Jae-rin(’12, Dept. of Biochemistry) was an exchange student of the University of Sheffield in the fall semester of 2014. She said, “I got an F in a course in Sheffield, and the professor gave me a chance to take a retest, but I didn’t take it because I had to come back to Korea, and I thought that retaking a similar course in CBNU was possible. However, I couldn’t retake it and should list all credits, including the F from Sheffield, because the grade abandonment system in CBNU was abolished. I insisted right away to the office of Student Affairs that retaking the class was necessary for exchange students, and they said that they will let me know about the result after a meeting, but there was no answer.”
  In an interview with Woo Jung-yoon in the CBNU Office of International Services, she answered that taking credits abroad should follow our university’s regulations because exchange students are still members of CBNU. She said, “Suppose that you take 15 credits from a university. After returning, you should submit some documents and credit records to CBNU. In the original copy of the credits records, all 15 credits are recorded and you can’t delete them.” Compared with other universities’ situations, on the Website of Seokyeong University, this sentence is specified in the category of exchange students: “You can’t abandon credits which you took abroad.” Also, in the case of Yonsei University, this sentence is specified on their website: “Even though our course’s names are the same with courses which you take abroad, you can’t retake our course.” In the case of CBNU, a CBT reporter found a similar sentence on the website of the Dept. of Academic Administration Support, not on the website of CBNU Office of International Services: “You can’t retake courses in CBNU which you already took in another university.” The problem seems to be a lack of access to related information.
  On the International Services’ website of CBNU, the statement is specified: “CBNU made an international exchange program to boost international academic exchange by signing scholarship exchange agreements with 135 universities in 40 countries.” However, in reality, the exchange students of CBNU have been sent to only 15 universities. In this respect, an anonymous student said, “I heard that the students’ rate of application is low, and CBNU’s budget is restrained, so I think CBNU won’t send students to some of the universities that signed with CBNU. Moreover, students can’t go to a university which doesn’t agree to the MOU with CBNU even if they want to go there.” Related to it, Administrator Woo said, “In theory, CBNU can send students to all the universities that agreed with CBNU because the MOU was signed. However, there are some reasons why students can’t go to any university they want. CBNU has a regulation that students must take a course whose span is 45 hours to get 3 credits, but each foreign university has different regulations. Therefore, CBNU must discuss the regulation with each university when it sends students there. In reality, it is too hard to discuss the regulation with 135 universities. However, if a foreign university requests a dispatch of students, CBNU can send a group of students such as a departmental unit or college unit there. Plus, I think the reason why the rate of application is low is that students tend to be lazy. Please make an effort in advance if you are preparing to be an exchange student. Also, there aren’t any cases where we can’t support students because of a lack of money. On the other hand, CBNU must make an effort to select students as soon as possible.
  According to information from another student, there are differences between orientations of sister universities and orientations of the Hakgi program. Orientations of sister universities aren’t held if few students apply. Thus, students are required to find information themselves on the NAVER cafe. In addition, they should reserve air tickets and a dormitory room themselves. On the other hand, many students apply for the Hakgi program. The number of students applying for the Hakgi program is roughly 10 in average, so the orientation is held, but students can’t get detailed information from it. Related to that, Administer Woo said, “We can’t have as big of an big orientation for the sister university program as the Hakgi program because the number of students applying for the sister university program is too small. Instead of that, we pay careful attention to them one by one. For example, in the case of students who are sent to non-English speaking countries of sister universities, each student has a different schedule for departure because each university has different school affairs. Also, they depart Korea during vacation, so we guide students sufficiently by e-mail. After they depart, we contact them continuously by e-mail or Kakaotalk.” She mentioned that it is a misunderstanding that the Hakgi program is better than other programs because we give much information through many meetings. Moreover, she said, “In the case of exchange students of sister universities, we recommend students reserve air tickets or check dormitory rooms by themselves because students can use many methods to get cheaper tickets. However, we can’t do that for students because of the complicated university system. In the case of the Hakgi program, we can, and prefer to, book many tickets as a big group because of the same reason.” Finally, she said, “We will make a new plan to hold an orientation for both of them after hearing students’ complaints.”
  Therefore, students who want to be exchange students should look for information in advance and should be careful about disadvantages by contacting the CBNU office of International Services or the Office of Student Affairs.

By Go So-young
sy35@cbnu.ac.kr