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Understanding each other better
Cui Ziyin, front row sixth from left, poses with students from Korea, China and Japan during the opening ceremony for the Campus Asia Program at Dongseo University in Busan in September 2013.
/ Courtesy of Dongseo University |
Students share ideas through Campus Asia Program
By Chung Hyun-chae
Cui Ziyin, a graduate from Guangdong University of Foreign Studies in Guangzhou, China, said she has come to have a better understanding about sensitive historical issues facing Korea, China and Japan after joining a three-nation exchange program in 2012.
 
Cui Ziyin, Jung Da-yeon,
graduate from Guangdong University of Foreign Studies Dongseo University student
 
Ikuko Yamamoto, Cho Hoon,
Ritsumeikan University student graduate student from KAIST
She is sure that the Campus Asia Program has provided opportunities for students from the three countries to share their ideas and experiences as well as learn how to better understand each other.
The program was started in 2012 to promote academic and cultural exchanges among the region's university students. It has received funding from the governments of Korea, China and Japan.
"As part of the program, we had a lecture called East Asian Regional Study in which students discussed historical problems and territorial disputes. We made persuasive arguments by putting ourselves in other countries' shoes," said Cui who majored in Korean at her home university.
"For example, Chinese students were given the task to support Japan saying Diaoyu Island is Japan's territory and studied and collected data to back our claim which we had never thought about before," she said. "I also learned a way to trust other people and respect different cultures."
The discussions included sensitive historical issues such as Japanese cabinet ministers' visits to Yasukuni Shrine, war reparations and wartime sexual slavery.
"Such activities have enabled us think why Japan, Korea and China behave that way, from their points of view, and I could understand them more," Cui said. "I realized that communication is the best way to solve the problems. Only communication can make us understand each other and find the way to make a better future."
The program is designed to provide opportunities for university students to study and experience the cultures of the three countries while receiving credits or double degrees.
Currently there are 10 teams comprised of three to four universities from Korea, Japan and China.
Eight local universities including Seoul National University, Korea University, Sungkyunkwan University and Pusan National University have participated in the program with eight Chinese universities and 10 Japanese universities.
The Chinese universities include Peking University and Tsinghua University and those in Japan include the University of Tokyo and Kyushu University.
Cui's school has teamed up with Dongseo University in Busan and Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto.
"Actually, I got a job with a cartoon and toy company trading with Korea and Japan because I learned to speak both Korean and Japanese during the Campus Asia program," she said. "Thanks to this program, I became more independent, confident and broad-minded."
She said she is preparing to enter Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS) in Seoul to further pursue her dream of becoming an interpreter.
As the students spent about two years together, living in each country for six months in dormitories, they became close friends.
"Building friendships with Japanese and Chinese students, I could dispel prejudices about the two countries," said Jung Da-yeon, 23, a Dongseo University student majoring in Japanese and Chinese.
Asked what the most impressive aspect of the program was, she cited a group project under which students formulate visions of East Asia's future.
"Our group devised a plan to conclude a peace treaty among the three countries," Jung said. "Including this project, many lectures and projects allowed us to understand each other's countries deeply," she added.
The program was created not only to help students exchange ideas but also to improve their language skills.
"We enjoyed explaining things to Korean and Chinese students in their languages," said Ikuko Yamamoto, a 22-year-old Japanese student from Ritsumeikan University.
Most students who took part in the Campus Asia Program passed the highest level of the Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK), the Chinese Proficiency Test (HSK) and the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) although they had stayed each country for only six months.
The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in Daejeon is running a project under the Campus Asia Program with Tsinghua University in Beijing and the Tokyo Institute of Technology.
The three universities exchange students while encouraging them to focus on research.
"Unlike other students taking lessons or making presentations under international or exchange programs, I conducted research through the school's support," said Cho Hoon, a graduate student who is in a master's and doctoral course at KAIST.
He added that he wants to work as an environmental technology consultant for the United Nations Development Program, a development agency headquartered in New York.
Last month, education ministers of the three nations held their first trilateral meeting in Seoul to boost educational cooperation.
During the meeting, the three ministers agreed to expand student exchanges, dual-degree programs and joint courses. They also discussed expanding the program to invite other Asian countries so that students in the region could actively interact with each other.
"Like the Erasmus Program in the EU, we hope to eventually develop this into a joint program of all Northeast Asian countries combining their schemes for education and training," said Kim Young-gon, director general of the International Cooperation Bureau at the Ministry of Education.
hcchung@ktimes.com
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