Master in South Korea
Introduction
In this article, we will focus on the master's program in South Korea (hereinafter referred to as Korea) in technical specialties, and in particular, on Seoul National University , which for short is simply “SNU”, and the Russian author would translate it as “ Seoul State University ”, although on Wikipedia it is called “National”.
It should immediately be said that all of the following is based on the personal experience of the author, and may not reflect the absolute reality. If you ever have to come to Korea to study, then consider that the academic life will depend on your choice of faculty and leading professor. At the same time, in Korea, everything changes with cosmic speed, and in a couple of years, maybe something will be different from what is described here.
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University
If you mentally draw a horizontal line dividing the photo into two halves, the entire lower part will be the campus of the university.
SNU is considered one of the most prestigious universities in the country. At the same time, being a state, the cost of training is significantly lower than in other prestigious, but private universities. Admission to the Seoul University is the cherished dream of any Korean entrant, because for a lower tuition fee, the student will be able to guarantee himself a successful career, hitting the right community. By the way, many high-ranking employees of companies such as Samsung, LG, Hyundai and other Korean giants were graduates of Seoul State University.
Laboratory
If you are a foreign student who came to graduate school, then at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) for the first month of study you will probably have to decide on a professor in a specialty. Choosing a professor, you thereby become a member of his laboratory - a group of students, one large family. Since there are future masters and future doctors among the students of the laboratory, the age of the participants in your laboratory can vary from 24 to 36 years. The number of foreigners, as well as the average level of English will strongly depend on the selected laboratory.
The laboratory looks like this: a professor, one or two girls, a foreigner and many Koreans (not the author in the photo).
A Koreans professor usually pays a scholarship that partially covers the cost of tuition at the university. Here is such a clever system! Everyone seems to be left with their money, but because of the scholarship, students have not only a moral obligation to visit the laboratory every weekday from 10 am to 6 pm. Comparable to visiting the office and part-time work for the professor. Although theoretically in the laboratory you can do anything, Koreans for the most part conscientiously study, discuss scientific articles, ideas enclosed in them, carry out coursework and homework. Only at the time of the lecture you go to a nearby audience or building. By the way, Koreans leave the lab for the whole week! International students can count on two or four depending on the kindness of the professor and their academic performance.
Courses
The number of courses required for admission to the master's defense is only six and this is two years! In the first semester, three courses are usually taken, and three in the second. Subjects can ideally be selected, and Korean students do just that. However, in truth, the choice of courses in English is very limited. So for foreign students there is practically no choice in their specialty. Personally, the author studied five technical courses, plus one about the principles of writing scientific articles in English. All courses were really useful, they included compulsory attendance of lectures twice a week, homework assignments and course projects.
It is worth noting such a “set-up” as the QT - qualification test, qualification exam, which is more correctly called a test. However, this is a very important credit - you have only two attempts to pass it, or you cannot become a master. This exam is a written solution of two problems to choose from more than twenty on different topics. Most topics are completely unsuitable, so the real choice will consist of two tasks in a bad case and three or four in a good one. According to the author's estimates, 20-25% of students cannot pass the test on the first attempt.
The main task
Let us return, however, to the main task of the students of the laboratory, which is the writing of scientific articles, and already on their basis a diploma. Under this important matter two full semesters of the second year are allotted. The process of finding ideas for an article on the example of our laboratory looked like this. A student is looking for articles on topics of interest that are published in prestigious international conferences using Google Scholar. It then reads the articles it finds and tries to suggest a small idea that could improve performance or efficiency. Then the idea is presented in the form of a presentation and is shown to the professor at one of the regular meetings of the whole laboratory with the professor. If the idea is approved, then for experimental data a software simulator is implemented, or embodied in hardware. If everything is successful, then it remains only to put together all the data and pictures, add the text and the article is ready.
About languages
Usually, professors are less likely to speak English, Korean students, in principle, too. Specifically, the author's professor spent a lot of time in the United States, respectively, spoke in English without any problems. At the same time, understanding the importance of English for scientific activities, he encouraged his students to devote at least half an hour a day to learning the language. However, it is still easier for Koreans to correspond and speak at meetings in Korean, thus a large amount of useful information passes by you.
The university has Korean courses and, in principle, visiting them can help in everyday life, but it is almost impossible to learn to the extent that one can communicate on professional topics. Although known and an exception among friends of the author.
Instead of an epilogue
In summary, I would say that studying in Korea was a rewarding experience that allows you to look at many things in a different way. In the comments I am happy to answer your questions.
PS I’ll add unobtrusively that you can read about some aspects of Korean life in my blog.
In this article, we will focus on the master's program in South Korea (hereinafter referred to as Korea) in technical specialties, and in particular, on Seoul National University , which for short is simply “SNU”, and the Russian author would translate it as “ Seoul State University ”, although on Wikipedia it is called “National”.
It should immediately be said that all of the following is based on the personal experience of the author, and may not reflect the absolute reality. If you ever have to come to Korea to study, then consider that the academic life will depend on your choice of faculty and leading professor. At the same time, in Korea, everything changes with cosmic speed, and in a couple of years, maybe something will be different from what is described here.
')
University
If you mentally draw a horizontal line dividing the photo into two halves, the entire lower part will be the campus of the university.
SNU is considered one of the most prestigious universities in the country. At the same time, being a state, the cost of training is significantly lower than in other prestigious, but private universities. Admission to the Seoul University is the cherished dream of any Korean entrant, because for a lower tuition fee, the student will be able to guarantee himself a successful career, hitting the right community. By the way, many high-ranking employees of companies such as Samsung, LG, Hyundai and other Korean giants were graduates of Seoul State University.
Laboratory
If you are a foreign student who came to graduate school, then at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) for the first month of study you will probably have to decide on a professor in a specialty. Choosing a professor, you thereby become a member of his laboratory - a group of students, one large family. Since there are future masters and future doctors among the students of the laboratory, the age of the participants in your laboratory can vary from 24 to 36 years. The number of foreigners, as well as the average level of English will strongly depend on the selected laboratory.
The laboratory looks like this: a professor, one or two girls, a foreigner and many Koreans (not the author in the photo).
A Koreans professor usually pays a scholarship that partially covers the cost of tuition at the university. Here is such a clever system! Everyone seems to be left with their money, but because of the scholarship, students have not only a moral obligation to visit the laboratory every weekday from 10 am to 6 pm. Comparable to visiting the office and part-time work for the professor. Although theoretically in the laboratory you can do anything, Koreans for the most part conscientiously study, discuss scientific articles, ideas enclosed in them, carry out coursework and homework. Only at the time of the lecture you go to a nearby audience or building. By the way, Koreans leave the lab for the whole week! International students can count on two or four depending on the kindness of the professor and their academic performance.
Courses
The number of courses required for admission to the master's defense is only six and this is two years! In the first semester, three courses are usually taken, and three in the second. Subjects can ideally be selected, and Korean students do just that. However, in truth, the choice of courses in English is very limited. So for foreign students there is practically no choice in their specialty. Personally, the author studied five technical courses, plus one about the principles of writing scientific articles in English. All courses were really useful, they included compulsory attendance of lectures twice a week, homework assignments and course projects.
It is worth noting such a “set-up” as the QT - qualification test, qualification exam, which is more correctly called a test. However, this is a very important credit - you have only two attempts to pass it, or you cannot become a master. This exam is a written solution of two problems to choose from more than twenty on different topics. Most topics are completely unsuitable, so the real choice will consist of two tasks in a bad case and three or four in a good one. According to the author's estimates, 20-25% of students cannot pass the test on the first attempt.
The main task
Let us return, however, to the main task of the students of the laboratory, which is the writing of scientific articles, and already on their basis a diploma. Under this important matter two full semesters of the second year are allotted. The process of finding ideas for an article on the example of our laboratory looked like this. A student is looking for articles on topics of interest that are published in prestigious international conferences using Google Scholar. It then reads the articles it finds and tries to suggest a small idea that could improve performance or efficiency. Then the idea is presented in the form of a presentation and is shown to the professor at one of the regular meetings of the whole laboratory with the professor. If the idea is approved, then for experimental data a software simulator is implemented, or embodied in hardware. If everything is successful, then it remains only to put together all the data and pictures, add the text and the article is ready.
About languages
Usually, professors are less likely to speak English, Korean students, in principle, too. Specifically, the author's professor spent a lot of time in the United States, respectively, spoke in English without any problems. At the same time, understanding the importance of English for scientific activities, he encouraged his students to devote at least half an hour a day to learning the language. However, it is still easier for Koreans to correspond and speak at meetings in Korean, thus a large amount of useful information passes by you.
The university has Korean courses and, in principle, visiting them can help in everyday life, but it is almost impossible to learn to the extent that one can communicate on professional topics. Although known and an exception among friends of the author.
Instead of an epilogue
In summary, I would say that studying in Korea was a rewarding experience that allows you to look at many things in a different way. In the comments I am happy to answer your questions.
PS I’ll add unobtrusively that you can read about some aspects of Korean life in my blog.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/130244/
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