Visit to Korea University

I must confess to have been feeling a little nervous about my first appointment on this study tour, but I needn’t have worried!

My tour starts with a visit to Korea University which is one of the top three Korean Universities, collectively known as “SKY” and which are Seoul National University, Korea University and Yonsei University.  It is an institution with a global vision working with over 700 institutions worldwide in over 70 countries.  It is also a Universitas 21 partner Institution and celebrated it's Centenary in 2005.

I decided that I would arrive nice and early for my visit to “walk the parish” and familiarize myself with the campus.  The Seoul subway has two stations on the edge of campus making it extremely easy to get to.

My first impressions of the campus is that it is extremely neat and tidy with lots of granite buildings, statues and space.

Moving into the centre of the campus, I found the main gates with a long wide drive up to the main university building, this felt very familiar and had echoes of my own campus!

The campus is car free, with plenty of car parking spaces for both staff and students, so it was very pleasant to wander about without the need to dodge traffic. 

Clearly there still needs to be some traffic on campus for routine deliveries etc. and some of which are carried out by a fleet of motorcycles, zipping about carrying the most amazing loads.

After a very pleasant time wandering around the campus and people watching, by the way, Korean students seem exactly like students elsewhere except for one thing, they were all extremely smart, I didn’t see one looking scruffy or unkempt.  In fact, whilst I have been here I have been struck by how smart, indeed sharply dressed Koreans are, it was time to go to my meeting.

The meeting was hosted by colleagues from the Office of International Affairs and started with green tea and a discussion about the University generally and library provision in general.  The University has 10 libraries in total and there are some nice video clips of the libraries at http://library.korea.ac.kr/en

We talked about the Government investment in schools and technology over the years and that Korea holds the proud title of being the most wired nation in the world. According to UN statistics, Korea leads world in technical infrastructure and participation rates.  The UK is 4^th behind the USA and Canada with Australia 5^th.

The library we were going to see, the Centennial Digital Library (CDL) built in 2005 was the first digital library in Korea and was built, furnished and equipped by Samsung which I discovered is not simply an Audio Visual equipment manufacturer.

On the way to the library we passed the recently completed Law library which, unlike most of the other new buildings on campus which are built in the old style from granite, is a great glass and steel structure thrusting itself out of the hillside unabashed!  Unfortunately, there was not time to see inside.

The CDL is located in the Centennial Memorial Samsung Hall and as we passed through the traditional façade of the building we were greeted by a light, airy and modern interior.

The facilities contained within include a large range of facilities, but I will concentrate on the Information Commons and the MultiMedia Production Lab.

The Information Commons is a huge space , set out for quiet and individual study, here students can access a huge range of digital resources including  digital texts, Web-DB, E-journal, National Assembly Library, full text DB, VOD, recorded lectures and distance learning materials etc. 

If facilities are needed for group work and collaboration, a suite of rooms is located at the edge of the facility which the students can book in advance.

In fact, to use any of the facilities in the Information commons or MultiMedia lab, students need to book in advance through one of the number of kiosks provided for this use.  Students can even select between simple tables for study or tables with access to power and data.  Once a booking is made, students receive a booking slip.  The system knows when a student leaves the facility and if they are away for more than 80 minutes, the booking will be cancelled so the spaces can be reassigned.

The MultiMedia Production Lab is a huge facility where students, both UG and PG and staff can produce, edit and demonstrate multimedia materials.  Web materials, 2D/3d graphics and animations can also be produced.

In the main Multimedia room, students can access materials on CD-ROM, DVD, Video CD, Audio CD, Video Tape and Cassette Tape.  Also a range of TV and satellite channels are available together with facilities for experiencing virtual reality with 3D surround sound.

There are high quality edit suites with small studios co-located, small viewing rooms and a media theatre with a high quality digital cinema system.  This room is used regularly for showing films to a small audience, although the University has a large cinema elsewhere on campus.

Video conferencing is also available.

A small staff exists to provide support to the facility and “student instructors” are used to provide skills training.  Whilst I was there a student instructor was teaching an UG how to take photographs professionally.

Most of the equipment is located around the periphery of the room with a “high tech” multimedia room with PCs and scanners for individual use set in the middle of the space.

The software and hardware is replaced or upgraded every two years so the facilities never fall behind or become outdated.  Any new technology or equipment that comes to market is brought to the facility during the upgrade programme.

The students here have a high percentage of mobile device ownership and take it for granted that they need to use their own devices for study, however there are hire facilities for laptops and other devices if necessary.  At the entrance to the Information Commons it is possible to hire an iPad, download an app "book cube" using an QR code and access the resources in the facility quickly and easily.

At the end of the visit, my hosts walked me to the subway station taking a route through a lower ground corridor  surrounded by formal and informal study spaces, many of which were simply furnished with tables and chairs and no technology.  This corridor was so wide and so bright, it felt like an underground street, adding to this perception was the existence of shops and cafes at the end of the corridor by the entrance.

The university has approximately 35,000 students, and there is plenty of space for all of them, the institution ensures that it provides enough facilities for its students without those spaces feeling cramped or crowded, and there is no need to queue for access to any facility on campus.

The institution has built 20 new buildings in the last 10 years and plans still further investment into the campus in the future.