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(From the left) DSU Prof. Gasuyuki Ojasa, Yu Eun-sang, Jeong Da-yeon, and Prof. Jae Jeom-suk

Students in the CAMPUS Asia program study liberal arts and regional studies. They also experience cultural exchanges through living together while studying in all three countries for two years.

CAMPUS Asia will provide a foundation for training global human resources.

The CAMPUS Asia program at Dongseo University is the only such domestic undergraduate program.

Starting this year, the program will be expanded to include twenty students from each university.

Korea-China-Japan Rotational Campus Education

In 2012, ten Dongseo University students entered the Korea-China-Japan rotational education program. In the same year, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (Guangzhou, China) and Ritsumeikan University (Kyoto, Japan) also registered ten students each. The thirty university students from Korea, China and Japan have completed the program while rotating from county to country each semester for two years.

In their first year, the students studied at their own universities. It was a period of preparation for studying abroad by learning foreign languages. When they became sophomores, in February 2013, the thirty students from Korea, China and Japan met each other for the first time at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies in China. There they studied Chinese culture and language. Then, in May, the students moved to the “International Joint Campus” of Ritsumeikan University in Japan. Similarly, they learned about Japan through courses taught in Japanese. In September, they moved to Dongseo University in Busan and continued their studies. The next year, the program proceeded in the same order.

DSU professor of Japanese, Jae Jeom-suk said, “For the rotational education in the three countries, we divided the sophomore-to-junior course into three terms each year and moved from country to country every term. Also, we were considerate in providing the students with simultaneous interpretation for sophomore courses, since their language level was not yet sufficiently advanced.”

The students experienced fellowship through community life while moving around from campus to campus. Each university provided dormitory facilities so that the students could all live together. Additionally, Ritsumeikan University rented two separate houses for the students to live in. All thirty students were able to get to know each other well by eating, living, and having fun together.

After studying together for two years, the students returned to their home universities as seniors. They prepared for graduation by writing their theses and acquiring language certificates.

On January 17, 2016, each graduating student received a completion certificate, with the signatures of the three university presidents affixed to it, at a ceremony held at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. All three university presidents took part in the completion ceremony.

The CAMPUS Asia program was planned jointly by the governments of Korea, China and Japan. Domestically, ten business groups from eight universities, including Seoul National University, Korea University, and Pusan National University participated. Among them, DSU’s “Liberal Arts Training Project for the Next Generation of East Asia” is the only program for undergraduates.

Northeast Asian Next Generation Leaders

Ten DSU students have become fluent in Chinese and Japanese in their four years in the CAMPUS Asia program. Most students passed the linguistic requirements to complete the program. The linguistic requirements are Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) N1 (the most advanced level) and Chinese-Language Proficiency Test Level 6 (the most advanced level). The students also have relatively high English skills.

Jeong Da-yeon, 22, participated in the CAMPUS Asia program and has not only become proficient Japanese and Chinese but also scored 980, out of 990, in TOEIC, an test of English proficiency. Ms. Jeong said, “It was a precious opportunity for students from Korea, China and Japan to learn and share each other’s history and culture and also think about the future. In the future, by working for an international organization, I’d like to contribute to the cooperation of three Northeast Asian countries.”  

Ms. Yoon Eun-sang, also 22, said, “It was a meaningful chance to learn each country’s history in that country. I’m planning to enter graduate school in Japan to learn more about what we studied as undergraduates.”

The linguistic skills were just the basics. The students have developed leadership qualities as global individuals by studying liberal arts, regional studies, and literature. As the program progressed, there were more general courses such as liberal arts rather than only language courses.

According to DSU’s Professor Gasuyuki Ojasa, “This program is a brand new international education program which is entirely different from other student exchange programs.”

The Korean Ministry of Education commended the great performance of Dongseo University, evaluating it as “best” among the ten domestic business groups. Also, Ritsumeikan University was the only one to be evaluated as “special” by the Ministry of Culture of Japan.

Starting this year, Dongseo University, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, and Ritsumeikan University are expanding the number of students to twenty from each university, or sixty in total. Also, the three universities have agreed on the program’s permanent establishment.