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BBBrown
Joined: 26 Oct 2009
Location: Shanghai, China
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 Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2009 10:53 am Post subject: Reputable Graduate Programs in Korea?? |
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Hi All,
I am looking to make the move from Shanghai, China over to Korea within a year or so. I'm am currently teaching English and I have a B.A. degree and currently in a program for my M.A. in International Studies (Education Focus). I want to continue teaching but I also want to contribute to the field of ELL.
Does anyone have any suggestions on certification programs, graduate degree programs in Korea that are highly regarded? I am looking for something that can raise my stock as a teacher and professional in case I want to go another way later. Any suggestions? |
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ytuque
Joined: 29 Jan 2008
Location: I drink therefore I am!
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| Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2009 6:46 pm Post subject: Re: Reputable Graduate Programs in Korea?? |
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| BBBrown wrote: |
Hi All,
I am looking to make the move from Shanghai, China over to Korea within a year or so. I'm am currently teaching English and I have a B.A. degree and currently in a program for my M.A. in International Studies (Education Focus). I want to continue teaching but I also want to contribute to the field of ELL.
Does anyone have any suggestions on certification programs, graduate degree programs in Korea that are highly regarded? I am looking for something that can raise my stock as a teacher and professional in case I want to go another way later. Any suggestions? |
There is a highly regarded masters/doctoral international studies program at Yonsei University. This is the only program of this type that I am familiar with. If you check out the bio's of the professors, they have excellent academic qualifications.
In general, Koreans respect "SKY" + KAIST, where "SKY" is Seoul National, Korea University, and Yonsei. KAIST is the top science and engineering uni in the country. One step below these are the the provincial universities which have national in their name, for example Chungnam National University. |
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pkang0202
Joined: 09 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2009 7:08 pm Post subject: |
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OP, just look to see if the University is accredited by a world recognized accreditation organization.
If you plan to stay in Korea then go with SKY. Otherwise, go to a school that is accredited internationally. |
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PRagic
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
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| Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2009 11:41 pm Post subject: |
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| Do a search for 'Graduate School of International Studies Korea'. I think there are about 9 of them, and Ewha is currently rated number 1. My bad if this isn't correct. |
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eskeemo
Joined: 04 Jan 2009
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| Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2009 12:01 am Post subject: Re: Reputable Graduate Programs in Korea?? |
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| BBBrown wrote: |
Hi All,
Does anyone have any suggestions on certification programs, graduate degree programs in Korea that are highly regarded? |
Actually, I think the international studies program at Seoul National University is most reputable. Seoul National is ranked 47th in the world and 7th in Asian by the Times Higher Education Supplement World University Rankings. It could be bull-crap but I have heard there is a sizable minority of international students studying there. It probably has the best scholarships and is most competitive.
http://gsis.snu.ac.kr/ |
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morrisonhotel
Joined: 18 Jul 2009
Location: Gyeonggi-do
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| Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2009 12:44 am Post subject: |
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| ^Rankings mean nothing if the teaching is terrible/if the course isn't challenging. |
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eskeemo
Joined: 04 Jan 2009
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| Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2009 1:24 am Post subject: |
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| morrisonhotel wrote: |
| ^Rankings mean nothing if the teaching is terrible/if the course isn't challenging. |
How do we know that is true? Many Seoul students take up studentships at the best American universities for their MS and PhD degrees. They had to do well on the GRE, meet stiff departmental requirements, and pass the TOEFL, and so naturally education at Seoul is high quality. (A Korean friend is doing her PhD at Caltech, and the probability is high her undergraduate education properly prepared her for that!) |
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morrisonhotel
Joined: 18 Jul 2009
Location: Gyeonggi-do
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| Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2009 1:46 am Post subject: |
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| eskeemo wrote: |
| morrisonhotel wrote: |
| ^Rankings mean nothing if the teaching is terrible/if the course isn't challenging. |
How do we know that is true? Many Seoul students take up studentships at the best American universities for their MS and PhD degrees. They had to do well on the GRE, meet stiff departmental requirements, and pass the TOEFL, and so naturally education at Seoul is high quality. (A Korean friend is doing her PhD at Caltech, and the probability is high her undergraduate education properly prepared her for that!) |
Rankings mean nothing. Let's demonstrate how true that is by using the same newspaper that compiled the world rankings with their rankings of universities in the UK. If we look at the Times world rankings, we see that Oxford is ranked behind Cambridge and UCL. In the Times UK listings, Oxford is ranked first in the country. Which is it? Is Oxford a better institution than Cambridge (2nd in the world) and UCL (4th) or not? Likewise, St. Andrews is ranked fourth in the UK and 87th in the world. UCL is ranked 5th in the UK, 4th in the world. Is UCL a better institution than St. Andrews or not? Edinburgh is ranked 20th in the world - it's ranked 14th in the UK (behind Warwick, LSE, Durham, Exeter, Bristol, York, KCL, and Bath - none of which ranks above Edinburgh in the world rankings). There's no consistency in university rankings. There's also no guarantee that because someone went to Harvard/Oxbridge/Yale that they received a better education than someone who went to Keele or Reading or where ever else. Whilst I never commented on the specifics of the courses available at Korean universities, the same applies here as it does anywhere else. If the teaching/course content is terrible, you'll be getting a poor education. If you want my advice, OP, you should consider what ever institution you will think will best suit your needs. As long as it's a recognised institution (i.e. is officially recognised and isn't a diploma mill), you can always go to a 'name' place later.
As for your friend, are there not graduates of poorly ranked American universities at Harvard, Yale, etc.? It's more than a little to do with the capability of the student rather than the institution that they attended when it comes to postgrad.
Last edited by morrisonhotel on Sun Nov 22, 2009 1:54 am; edited 1 time in total |
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English Matt
Joined: 12 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2009 1:52 am Post subject: |
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| eskeemo wrote: |
| morrisonhotel wrote: |
| ^Rankings mean nothing if the teaching is terrible/if the course isn't challenging. |
How do we know that is true? Many Seoul students take up studentships at the best American universities for their MS and PhD degrees. They had to do well on the GRE, meet stiff departmental requirements, and pass the TOEFL, and so naturally education at Seoul is high quality. (A Korean friend is doing her PhD at Caltech, and the probability is high her undergraduate education properly prepared her for that!) |
Are the quality of the programs taught in English comparable to those taught in Korean at these Universities? That's the real question. I wonder why people take the risk of taking English language programs in Korea....of which little seems to be known.....when there are cheaper alternatives in Europe at Universities ranked just as high (if not higher) than Universities in Korea.
The quality of the teaching at public schools here doesn't instill in me much confidence that their Universities are that much better. |
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eskeemo
Joined: 04 Jan 2009
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| Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2009 2:37 am Post subject: |
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| morrisonhotel wrote: |
| Which is it? Is Oxford a better institution than Cambridge (2nd in the world) and UCL (4th) or not? Likewise, St. Andrews is ranked fourth in the UK and 87th in the world. UCL is ranked 5th in the UK, 4th in the world. Is UCL a better institution than St. Andrews or not? |
Wait, are we grinding this down to sand? I am satisfied with "generally ranked in the top five" for the said unis. Edinburgh's research output is stable, and its league table score reflects that (it does not wildly vary among classifications).
| morrisonhotel wrote: |
| There's no consistency in university rankings. |
I never said there is, but Oxford is not ranked 3rd in one ranking and 151st in another. It's amplitude is +/- 15, which a good indicator of its natural state.[/quote]
| morrisonhotel wrote: |
| There's also no guarantee that because someone went to Harvard/Oxbridge/Yale that they received a better education than someone who went to Keele or Reading or where ever else. |
Of course an Oxbridge/Harvard/Yale student is not guaranteed to have been better educated than a Keele or Reading student, and so I would extend that and say that for that reason, Keel and Reading�s teaching is *not* terrible, the courses can be challenging, and they can receive adequate preparation for postgraduate study. Wouldn�t you?
That is my claim about Seoul. The teaching is not terrible, and the courses are not trivial, otherwise the graduates would have poor postgraduate placements or lack it (which they don�t). Some Edinburgh students loathe the place, perhaps others think it is a haven for intellectuals, and its ranking fluctuates as you pointed out, but that does not lead to the conclusion that the teaching there is mediocre. It does not in the very least.
| morrisonhotel wrote: |
Whilst I never commented on the specifics of the courses available at Korean universities, the same applies here as it does anywhere else.
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We didn't learn anything new from this.
| morrisonhotel wrote: |
If the teaching/course content is terrible, you'll be getting a poor education.
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I don't disagree with that.
| morrisonhotel wrote: |
| As for your friend, are there not graduates of poorly ranked American universities at Harvard, Yale, etc.? |
Yes, of course, because the teaching at their colleges was not crappy, they took challenging course loads, if it was otherwise their undergraduate preparation would not have likely gotten them admitted to Harvard, which is my point, the teaching at Seoul is not at all what you wrote above.
To rehash what I think, I agree with morrisonhotel, choose a university that best suits your needs. No, I do not think a university ranked in the top fifty teaches crappily. That is a disingenuous broad sweeping generalization.
But, to extend on that, Seoul National is respectably ranked, its students have a history of attending renowned universities elsewhere for their postgraduate studies, the teaching is not crappy, and many courses are challenging. So, you can consider international studies in that country if it interests you. |
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eskeemo
Joined: 04 Jan 2009
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| Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2009 2:58 am Post subject: |
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| English Matt wrote: |
Are the quality of the programs taught in English comparable to those taught in Korean at these Universities? That's the real question. I wonder why people take the risk of taking English language programs in Korea....of which little seems to be known.....when there are cheaper alternatives in Europe at Universities ranked just as high (if not higher) than Universities in Korea. |
That's a good question. Perhaps the Korean programs are well established hallowed halls of learning but the English program sucks.
As to the second part, maybe the students come here to specialize in Asian business, Asian studies or economics, or want to have a different spin on their international uni experience. National University of Singapore started similarly, but now it is well regarded in the world for its quality education, many Brits and Australians study there (cheaper there b/c of top-off fees) even though the professors have thick accents. It can be a great experience if the nature of the work, the personal attitude, and the motivation are in phase-lock.
| English Matt wrote: |
The quality of the teaching at public schools here doesn't instill in me much confidence that their Universities are that much better. |
Haha, right.
Anyway, I don't want to continue harping on this Seoul "crappy teaching/unchallening" course load by morrisonhotel but his comment is completely unfounded. I live near SNU, and on many Friday nights a whole convoy of foreign kids studying there come to a popular bar I frequent and I have questioned them about their studies because I, too want to know WHY they HELL they chose to study at Seoul, and not in their home countries, Hong Kong, Singapore, England or America or elsewhere. They don't exact complaints about the education, but about other things like the language barrier with the administration. But, that is understandable because it's a Korean uni. One Finnsh girl complained that there are not enough classes in English. So, there you go. |
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English Matt
Joined: 12 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2009 5:16 am Post subject: |
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| eskeemo wrote: |
| English Matt wrote: |
Are the quality of the programs taught in English comparable to those taught in Korean at these Universities? That's the real question. I wonder why people take the risk of taking English language programs in Korea....of which little seems to be known.....when there are cheaper alternatives in Europe at Universities ranked just as high (if not higher) than Universities in Korea. |
That's a good question. Perhaps the Korean programs are well established hallowed halls of learning but the English program sucks.
As to the second part, maybe the students come here to specialize in Asian business, Asian studies or economics, or want to have a different spin on their international uni experience. National University of Singapore started similarly, but now it is well regarded in the world for its quality education, many Brits and Australians study there (cheaper there b/c of top-off fees) even though the professors have thick accents. It can be a great experience if the nature of the work, the personal attitude, and the motivation are in phase-lock.
| English Matt wrote: |
The quality of the teaching at public schools here doesn't instill in me much confidence that their Universities are that much better. |
Haha, right.
Anyway, I don't want to continue harping on this Seoul "crappy teaching/unchallening" course load by morrisonhotel but his comment is completely unfounded. I live near SNU, and on many Friday nights a whole convoy of foreign kids studying there come to a popular bar I frequent and I have questioned them about their studies because I, too want to know WHY they HELL they chose to study at Seoul, and not in their home countries, Hong Kong, Singapore, England or America or elsewhere. They don't exact complaints about the education, but about other things like the language barrier with the administration. But, that is understandable because it's a Korean uni. One Finnsh girl complained that there are not enough classes in English. So, there you go. |
Oh undoubtedly there are people who come here with an intention to specialise in a particular field with a slant towards Asia, however the OP wants to study International Studies.....that is how my original comment was intended. Something as broad as that can be studied at a large number of universities in a large number of countries in English.
I am intending to go back to Uni within the next couple of years to get a Masters, however, considering the cost involved, I would go for a Uni which has a reputation for the quality of it's teaching and is well recognised internationally. At this point the English language programs are too new for prospective students to really gauge what they are letting themselves in for, the tuition fees are also not exactly cheap and I know that I would have trouble selling an SNU Masters over a Universitait Van Amsterdam or Freie Universitaet Berlin Masters to prospective employers back home in Europe; I just don't think Korean Universities are very well known outside of Asia and / or by many employers.
I guess it all comes down to where one wants to work in the future, Asia vs Europe vs North America, etc. However, even if one wants to work in Asia, I would imagine Singapore or Hong Kong would be a safer bet for a well recognised degree with a reputation that has international clout.
And rightly or wrongly (I would say wrongly) in some cases, I think employers in Europe and North America would look upon a Korean who has a degree from a SKY university and an American with a degree from a SKY university in different lights. As you mentioned in your post, I think the reaction to the American might be, why the heck did you choose to study there (that's assuming an organisation unrelated to Asia that has probably never even heard of Yonsei or SNU, etc.). |
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matthews_world
Joined: 15 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2009 7:17 pm Post subject: |
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What are the GPA minimums in transfering to some of these schools?
Yonsei:??
SNU:?? |
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PRagic
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
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| Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2009 8:13 pm Post subject: |
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| I'll go out on a limb here, but you'd probably be able to find out by contacting them. |
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eskeemo
Joined: 04 Jan 2009
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| Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 9:47 pm Post subject: |
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| matthews_world wrote: |
What are the GPA minimums in transfering to some of these schools?
Yonsei:??
SNU:?? |
According to the Website minimum GPA to be considered for graduate admission at Seoul National is 2.75/4.00. My GF said the average admittance rate is 35 percent excluding the professional schools (medicine, vet-med, dentistry, law 'etc is much lower), and between 20 and 30 percent in mechanical, electrical, and nanotechnology engineering.
She also said because the university wants to expand the use of English, she thinks the acceptance rate for a Western, native English-speaking student could be 50/50 in a non-engineering discipline. (I don't know, it's her opinion, she is a grad student there, has a US BS degree). |
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