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Students who enrolled at Central Washington University through the Education Abroad program listen to a lecture during an English proficiency class in a Korea Education Institute in Gangnam, Seoul. |
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| Michael Launius, assistant vice president of CWU |
The Central Washington University (CWU) has its professors pay greater attention to each student with relatively small-sized classes.
"In larger universities, many freshmen and sophomore courses are taught by teaching assistants who are graduate students, but in CWU, 98 percent of courses are taught by regular faculty members with Ph.D.s," said Michael Launius, an assistant vice president of CWU in a recent interview.
Undergraduate students don't usually get as much attention as they do in smaller schools in many Ivy League universities with good reputations, because they don't focus on undergraduate programs, he added.
"The course approach at CWU has been to create opportunities for Korean students to get a better educational experience," Launius said.
Korean students can also focus better on their studies, the vice president added, thanks to the school's location.
CWU is located in Ellensburg, 177 kilometers (110 miles) east of Seattle in the U.S. It's a small city where about 19,000 people live in a safe and secure environment, he said.
"That means Korean students can have less distractions than in bigger cities so that they can focus better on their studies."
Therefore, the school fits perfectly with students who want to focus more on academic achievements, Launius said.
CWU runs quarter systems as opposed to semester systems, which means four quarters a year.
"Quarters are 10 or 11 weeks, so it is much more condensed than a semester system with five classes every day. Students get more pressured to keep up with daily material," he said.
CWU recruits Korean students through the Education Abroad program in partnership with the Korus Education institute.
The Education Abroad program is one of the international exchange programs selected by 20 state universities in the U.S.
Students applying for the program must prove their English ability by taking the Proficiency of English for Academic Purposes (PEAP) exam instead of submitting TOEFL scores.
Korean students as well as international students should have adequate TOEFL, IELTS scores or a certain level of PEAP in order to keep up with the regular courses provided by CWU, but students can also successfully complete the program for their career path after being assigned to the "international advisors program," the vice president said.
Regarding students' professional aspirations, advisors help students find the right answers by asking students questions such as "What do you want to do after graduation?" "Where do you want to be in five years time?"
Advisors are comprised of faculty members.
"I'm surprised by how little students often think about where they want to be. They just want to graduate without thinking about their future. In that sense, the students can ask advisors for career development in graduate school or in companies, about strategies to link the study to career," Launius said.
Once the students are accepted to the advisor program, they get professional help regarding academic and career issues, and the students are never out of contact with advice being given throughout their university years, he said.
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