Sometimes graduation isn't as simple as passing all your classes

[SHUTTERSTOCK]

As a student, your worst nightmare may be being told that you can’t graduate when you thought you'd already met all the requirements.

For a 26-year-old foreign student at a university in Seoul, that wasn’t just nightmare, but a reality that she had to face due to language barriers and the school’s unwillingness to help.

The student, who asked not to be named for this article, had submitted all the mandatory graduation requirements — TOEIC and TOPIK scores — online on time, but her TOEIC results disappeared from the system due to a technical problem. Although she asked to resubmit her exam results because the problem was due to a technical glitch — with only her TOEIC report getting lost and other documents sent properly — the school refused, saying she would have to wait another semester to submit the missing exam report and then get her diploma.

As a foreign student that had completed her studies but without a diploma, she has been denied the chance to extend her student visa. At no point did the school offer any help.

”It was the international office manager that told that they will not allow me to extend an extra semester,” she added. “The reasons were that in the past, some students extended their semester and used that time to work and some committed crimes.”

Regarding the difficulties foreign students may face with graduation requirements — checking what they are, meeting them, finding out whether everything is met — most universities say they try to cater to them by creating multilingual inquiry channels or assigning people that can give help.

“Our staff at the Office of International Affairs are all capable of speaking in English and can give help, and we also have a consultation center where the foreign students can come in-person to ask us about any problems they had,” said a spokesperson for Hanyang University. “In the past, we found that those channels were enough to offer help to foreign students struggling with problems related to graduation requirements.”

Other schools such as Yonsei University offer similar services.

The school opened the Global Service Desk in September at the Global Lounge of the university’s Baekyang-Nuri building at the Sinchon campus. Students can visit the center in-person, with the school’s staff answering their questions in English and Chinese.

Having Korean students help is another way universities are trying to prevent problems.

“We have a well-received system that assigns foreign students with mentors that can help and students can also ask questions to our department of registrar, which will answer their questions in English,” said a spokesperson for Ewha Womans University. “If students want to ask questions or request help in other languages, they can contact the office of international affairs.”

The school has been connecting foreign students with Korean students through the Ewha Academic Assistance System for International Students (Eaasis) since 2019. Although it does have another mentorship program known as Peace Buddy, Eaasis pairs foreigners and Koreans in the same major, aiming to provide help on matters such as graduation requirements or course sign-ups that may vary between majors.

Although help channels are available, some foreign students say they don't cater to the most basic requirements.

Some universities may have English versions of their website that have announcements in English, but the translation is often indecipherable.

“My university’s Korean website provided a huge list that stated how many credits were required for students to graduate, listing credit requirements for every single major that was available at the school,” said a student named Bui, who was studying in Korea until 2020. “But the English version only told us to refer to requirements for each major, and there was no further information given.”

“I could find more information on my major’s website, but its sad that foreign students have to do double the work.”

The 26-year-old student struggling to get her diploma also faced a similar situation.

She knew all students had to take a Gender and Diversity Course to graduate after reading an introduction booklet she received on the first day of university. However, information on how to sign up for the course was only available in Korean.

“When checking the requirements on the Korean website, everything is fully detailed, but the English version is empty,” said the student. “It would be good if they provide the exact same information in Korean and English if they want to claim they are a global institution.”

“I think it would be good to make a meeting with all international students and at least tell us about the general requirements.”

Even the simplest rules can be hard to keep track of at times, with each school and major obliging students to check-off a myriad of confusing requirements.

Universities including Yonsei, Sogang, Hanyang and Ewha Womans require students to take a minimum of 126 credits to graduate, although students may have to take more depending on their majors, minors or double majors. Seoul National, Korea and Sungkyunkwan require students to take a minimum 130 credits.

One of the basic requirements for foreign students is TOPIK, with foreign students graduating from Korea University required a TOPIK level 4 or above. But students studying international studies, foreigners studying in Korea via the government-led Global Korea Scholarship and select students approved by the university president are exempt from the requirement. Foreigners admitted to Sungkyunkwan University after 2016 must have a TOPIK level 5 or above, while its level 4 or above for those admitted in 2014 and 2015.

There are universities with extra requirements, such as compulsory lectures students need to take.

Korea University requires all students to listen to the Human Rights and Gender Equity Education lecture once every year, which is offered on the university's online portal known as Blackboard. The online lecture is only open for a set period of time, generally between March and December.

Although the university used to offer other gender-related supplementary online lectures for students who missed the deadline, students have to be more careful as this is the last year the school will offer such leeway.

Another requirement that exists in select Christianity schools is chapel, with Yonsei University requiring students to sit in chapel for four semesters and Ewha Womans University eight semesters. The schools offer alternatives such as listening to lectures or transcribing the bible to students who miss the requirement, and what students have to do will differ by how many semesters they have missed.

Internship experience is required for all students graduating from Hanyang University, with the exception of those majoring in medicine, education, nursing and industrial information.

"Every year there are students who fail to meet graduation requirements when they thought they did due to small mistakes, and its important to carefully check whether all requirements are met through systems the school provides such as the graduation simulator," said a spokesperson for Hanyang University.

To prevent unfortunate accidents, universities allow students to check whether they have met all the requirements and course credits through these so-called graduation simulators. These system offered in universities such as Seoul National, Yonsei, Korea, Sogang, Sungkyunkwan, Hanyang and Ewha Womans, and are accessible through each universities' website. When logging in with their student identification number, the system shows how many credits a student took, how many more are needed, and whether they have passed other graduation requirements such as submitting exams, a thesis and online lectures.

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]