<#290 Jump Into the World>
Broaden Your Experience: Worldwide Study Tour
By Lee Ji-woo, Student Editor
If you have finished your freshman year you have probably heard of the ‘Worldwide Study Tour’ managed by the Office of International Affairs (OIA). This program encourages students’ to have an experience abroad and provides some financial support to participants. It has become quite popular and more and more CNUians are applying for this program. So what do you need to know to take part in the ‘Worldwide Study Tour’?
First, there are two times to participate in the program each year: during summer and winter vacation. Candidates apply and are selected in March or April for the summer vacation, and September or October for the winter vacation. However, as there is no specific selection period, you should check the OIA homepage regularly for the selection times. Then, when you find the announcement, you should read the eligibility conditions carefully. In 2009 the OIA selected the participants for this program by having groups develop a ‘tour plan’. However, in the past they have also used interviews. It may change again next session so you must read the information on the website carefully. Next, you need to write a thorough tour plan. You must describe the purpose of the tour, the destination, the schedule, the team leader’s language capability and so on. Teams should be made up of 3 to 6 students. You cannot apply alone, therefore, you need to form a group, and make detailed plans. There are also extra points awarded to groups that include a teacher and a distinguished foreign language speaker.
"Rise-up India" team in India
Lastly, you must consider the cooperation between team members and the educational purpose of the tour. This program is for the groups, so you need to show how your group will work efficiently and furthermore, you should consider the connection between your major and the purpose of the tour. In 2009, 95 teams were selected and most of the teams presented the educational goals of their tour related to their majors. So, group members in the same major are more likely to set common educational goals. However, there were also many outstanding groups composed of students from different majors that were selected. One student who participated last year said, “Our group thought about our tour goals a lot because the majors of the members were totally different. So we searched for an experience that would be educational for all of us.”
If you would like to know more about the program and read about the experiences of past participants, you can visit the café in Naver. You’ll find the link on the OIA homepage.
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