In 2013, Ajou University launched a transcript of extracurricular activities for the first time among the domestic universities. From February 2013, in addition to the traditional transcripts, students can be issued a transcript on which the university has officially certified the extracurricular activities they participated in during their undergraduate days.
What is the Ajou Blue Extracurricular Activity Project?
The Ajou Blue Extracurricular Activities project (referred to as “Ajou Blue”) allows the university to engage in the student’s non-curricular activities beyond their class curriculum or grades. Each time a student participates in an extracurricular activity, he or she receives the mileage points pertaining to that activity. A student can receive a maximum of 50 mileage points by participating in a single activity, and the point values vary depending on the activity. For example, if a student participates in a club activity for a semester, he or she can earn 50 points. If a student participates in a debate contest, he or she can earn 30 points. All activities are categorized into eight sections, as follows.
<Eight Sections of Ajou Blue Extracurricular Activities>
1. Setting of Life Vision
→Participating in the Oasis Mentoring Program (as a mentee) (10 points), taking a psychological test and enrolling in a consultation program (5 points), attending a special lecture on the studying method (2 points), etc.
2. Development of creative problem-solving abilities
→Undergraduate Research (UR) (50 points), taking part in a small academic society (50 points), etc.
3. Cultivating team spirit
→Participating in a marathon (5 points), engaging in the Ajou Mentor Program (as a mentor) (30 points), participating in a club activity (50 points), etc.
4. Development of self-expression abilities
→Taking a course regarding the Presentation School of Career Services Center (25 points),.
5. Leadership and development of public-relations skills
→Working for the Student Union (30 points); working for the Ajou Press (Ajou student newspaper), The Ajou Globe (Ajou student English newspaper), or AEBS (Ajou Educational Broadcasting Station) (30 points); etc.
6. Development of global competence
→Working for AGA (Ajou Global Ambassador) (30 points), taking part in International Day (as an organizer) (30 points), etc.
7. Development of employment capabilities
→Gaining an internship (30 points), participating in the Job Academy (25 points), participating in the Ajou business start-up camp (50 points), etc.
8. Participation in the contests and reward results
→Participating in a studying method contest (30 points), participating in a debate contest (30 points), participating in an engineering design idea competition (30 points), etc.
*Any other extracurricular activities can be added at any time.
Each student will be assigned one of four certification levels according to how many mileage points he or she obtained before graduation.
-White level (500 points to 999 points)
-Green level (1,000 points to 1,999 points)
-Blue level (2,000 points to 2,999 points)
-Ajou Blue level (at least 3,000 points)
Why Was Ajou Blue Created?
According to the university, the aim of the Ajou Blue project was to produce Dasan-styled talent in students who possess pragmatic abilities beyond expertise in their own major. This talent is well reflected in current hiring trends. Previously, many companies showed great preference toward candidates who had earned high grades. Recently, however, companies have learned that the grades do not necessarily reflect practical abilities for the workplace.
Once companies began to place emphasis on students’ practical experience, their life stories, and even their personalities, the university felt it necessary to motivate students to develop their own experiences and certify them to allow them achieve a level of credibility to companies.
Ajou Blue has proven useful to students applying to companies, because the university has confirmed what students have accomplished during their university years. Students are able to refer to their non-curricula at a glance when writing their résumés. Additionally, since the program is not mandatory and can be interpreted as a kind of welfare for the students, none of the students appears to disapprove of the system itself.
Indeed, it is one of the university’s most ambitious projects. Since last year, university administration has largely promoted the system to students by holding various events, such as the promotional essay contest regarding participation in extracurricular activities.
Yet, many students still seemed unsure of what the system actually entailed, or if they did know about it, they seemed to somewhat doubt its validity.
What Are the Problems?
Each extracurricular activity is given different mileage points, but the grading criteria are not opened to the students at all, which can lead to confusion. Actually, in some cases, the allocation of mileage points strays from popular understanding. For instance, working for Ajou Press is a regular activity for which a student is required to regularly set apart his or her time to publish the biweekly newspaper; whereas, participating in the studying method contest is a one-time activity. However, both are equally assigned 30 points. What factors contribute to determining point values? If students are not shown the answer to this question, they cannot be expected to take advantage of a system that they do not fully understand.
Another problem arises from the fact that the points a student can earn by fulfilling certain activities are already fixed. Accumulating a large amount of mileage points does not demonstrate how seriously the student contributed to certain activities, but rather, how many activities the student was involved in. Let us return to the question, “Why have many companies become interested in students’ extracurricular activities?” As mentioned before, companies want to see the candidate’s very personal and internal factors, aside from his or her grades, such as his or her team spirit, sense of responsibility, and leadership. Therefore, great importance should be placed on how profoundly dedicated the student was to a few activities, rather than how many activities the student participated in. However, instead of encouraging students to stick with one activity, Ajou Blue encourages students to continually chase after as many as possible.
Actually, the system may possess a fundamental hindrance, in that it attempts to quantify a student’s otherwise unquantifiable experience. To consider a similar example, many schools, in order to foster moral virtues, require their students to fulfill a certain number of credit hours that consist of volunteer work in order to graduate, or award students with extra credit according to how much time they spent volunteering. This system is often criticized for drifting from the intended meaning of volunteerism by quantifying the unquantifiable values. Still, such a system is ironically gaining popularity worldwide.
How Can Ajou Blue Take Root?
It seems that quantifying indefinable values has now become somewhat of a social trend, regardless of the field and in spite of the limit of accurate measurements. Maybe Ajou Blue hatched this idea before any other universities. Yet, before Ajou Blue can consider this a proud achievement for the university as well as an imitable system for the other universities, it must first be proven by the students to be useful.
To accomplish this, Ajou Blue must first be more elaborately explained, whether it is via the official Ajou website or email, so that every student can grasp the comprehensive idea of the system.
Also, the criteria for allocating each activity’s mileage points must be clearly identified and made available to the students. Above all, the university should motivate students to focus on suitable personal activities, which can help them develop their own story, rather than push them to simply join as many activities as possible.
This student-care system, which relates to extracurricular activities, was first executed among domestic universities and is still in its early stages. So it is quite understandable that there is room for improvement. Hopefully, the system can be developed to the point of encouraging students to draw out their hidden abilities and boosting each student’s confidence to venture into the challenges of society.
kimhyunjee@ajou.ac.kr