Every year, the international exchange team operates a “major advisor system” for foreign students. Korean students who are studying the same major as foreign students can become major advisors. Their role is to help foreign students benefit fully from their study abroad. This semester, the international exchange team recruited major advisors from 14 departments, including Management, Mechanical Engineering, Economics, Psychology, and English Literature. More details can be found on the Ajou University website. The foreign students benefitting from this program include double-degree students, as well as freshmen, transfer students, and enrolled students.
The selected major advisor will work for about 16 weeks from September to December. They begin key activities, starting with the orientation of the foreign freshmen and transfer students, in the second semester of 2017. The international exchange team recommends that foreign students meet with their major advisors for more than one hour every week in first month (September), because the first month is an important time for foreign students to adapt to their new lives. They will focus on learning support through meetings lasting 1–2 hours a week from the second month onwards(October). They are also expected to organize these activities systematically because they have to submit a “major advisor activity report” every month. Finally, major advisors receive a scholarship of 300,000 won at the end of the activity.
This program is expected to be useful for students who want to help foreign students. It is also expected to provide a good opportunity for foreign students, because they will be able to get lots of information from the Korean students. Although major advisor recruitment has ended for this semester, there will be another opportunity to participate next semester.