weitere Erfahrungsberichte für Suedkorea
Land:
Suedkorea
Universität:
Inha University, Incheon
Semester und Studiengang:
6. Semester Bachelor International Management
Aufenthalt:
Sommersemester 2014
Über die Universität:
The Inha University is known for their Logistic courses. But they offer a very broad range of different courses (especially for International Management students). I took several courses from different faculties (faculties: International Relations, International Trade, Business, Global Logistics). While registering for courses online, you only have access to the courses of the faculty you've signed up for. Then one week later, you have the possibility to register for courses different from the faculty you signed up for. Usually, these are already full though. But it's still managable to get your courses by going to the first class of the specific course and asking the professors. They are very kind to international students. Five of six courses were not within the faculty I signed up for (Business), but I still got into all 5 courses.
At the Inha University one semester is four months. After the first two months the midterms start. The finals start after the last two months. Both times, usually the tests consist of multiple choice questions. The finals (in general) do not cover the material of the whole semester. The finals refer to the material taught after the midterms.
One rather negative aspect (in my opinion) was the attendance. It is required to attend all classes. You can miss a couple of times, but that will affect your grade negatively.
Betreuung vor Ort:
The Inha University provides its international students with buddies (just like the DIT). Furthermore, they organise a free shuttle bus from Incheon Airport to the university, which is very convenient.
The first week already is kind of stressfull, as you have to attend all the courses you would like to chose. There is the possibility to drop a course or add a course after the first week. Everything is done online.
I chose to live in the dormitory, as it is cheaper than living off campus (ca. 800€ for 4 months incl. breakfast and dinner from Monday - Friday). The downside is, that you have to share a room with three other students. They usually put the internationals together in one room, so it is not likely you will end up with three Koreans in one room.
Furthermore, the dormitory food was quite disappointing. On the website, they said that students will be able to chose between Korean and Western dinner. This was not the case. There was international dinner once a week, but otherwise only Korean food. Korean food normally is very tasty, but the dormitory provides the students with food of rather poor quality. But referring to the price, this is quite understandable. The good thing is, that right next to the University is the so called "back gate". This is were all the restaurants and bars are. You can get a nice meal (incl. meat) for 3-4 € and it fills you up.
What you should know as well about the dormitory: Girls and boys are strictly seperated, and you are not allowed to visit the other gender. The gates close at 12am and open at 5am. So if you want to go out (preferably in Seoul) you can only go back into the dorm at 5am earliest. This is totally doable, when going to Hongdae or Itaewon (two major party districts in Seoul).
Tipps:
It is recommendable to use Internet Explorer to apply online for your semester abroad in Korea. I do not know why, but Koreans love Internet Explorer. Some functions do not work with other browsers.
Do take the Basic Korean course. It is very nice to be able to improve your language skills, especially in that specific country.
Furthermore, I would suggest to go to Korea in the summer semester. It gets very cold there in winter time. But even when the summer semester starts in March, it is still very cold (you should bring winter clothes). It gets better in April though.
It is best to start traveling in May. Everything starts to be green, and it is way nicer than in the months before. South Korea has a beautiful landscape. Busan and Jeju Island are very recommendable.