With a population of 30,000 international
students, Seoul has a diverse collection of residents from around the
world, each with their own needs, problems, and dreams. In Seoul’s push
to be a global city, it launched the fifth Seoul International Student
Forum (SISF) in cooperation with the Seoul Global Center, inviting a
select group of international students to have their say.
One
hundred participants were selected from applications submitted earlier
this spring, of which 88 were international students representing 28
nations and the remaining twelve were Korean students who assisted the
international participants. Priority was given to those with a score of
Grade 3 or higher in TOPIK (Test of Proficiency in Korean) and those
who’d studied in Korea the longest. The 100 selected applicants were
divided into six groups to work on their proposals, to be given directly
to Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon.
“We had to go research what kind
of problems foreigners have here,” explained SISF President Zahid
Hussain of Pakistan, a graduate of electrical engineering at Korea
University. “Based on problems many people were facing we wanted to come
up with solutions.”
The six groups met two times a week during
the two-month summer break to hash out problems with living in Seoul and
suggest solutions that would improve the lives of not just foreign
residents but Koreans as well. They also visited various agencies and
offices and engaged in volunteer activities.
Phoei Teng Michelle Lam, a student from the
Netherlands currently studying at Yonsei’s Korean Language Institute,
was selected as chairperson for group E, a team of twelve members
including eleven foreigners and one Korean.
“The development of
our proposal started simply with brainstorming about different ideas and
eventually we choose one where we were all interested in,” she said,
“coming up with a solution started with our own experiences and troubles
we had when we came to Seoul. After that we researched about how those
problems are taken care of in other countries.”
Her group came
up with two proposals, one regarding signage in Seoul’s subway system,
and one regarding the street trash in Seoul. They went forward with the
proposal concerning the subway system, putting together a proposal that
was presented to Mayor Park at the August 23 town meeting.
“We
and many others experienced difficulties when taking the subway in
Seoul,” she explained, “for example, the many different kind of
‘trains,’ eg normal and express train, and the difficulties of
transferring especially at bigger stations like Sindorim, Wangsimni,
Dongdaemun, etc. The main problem was that Koreans also face this
problem even though they have lived whole their life in Seoul. We came
up with an idea that would educate people about the city of Seoul and
make it easier for people to take the subway.”
Their solution
was to add bearings to existing subway signs, such as Eastbound,
Westbound, Northbound, or Southbound. Currently, subway signage only
shows the next station and major stations down the line, which can be
difficult for users unfamiliar with all the station names.
When travelling by subway, it is difficult to
have a bearing on compass direction, so to bolster the plan, Lam’s
group proposed a poster/sticker campaign educating the public on how to
divide Seoul into north, south, east, and west.
“This way people
will get a clearer view of how the city of Seoul is divided and even
though they do not know the exact position of their destination,” Lam
explains. “If they know in which area it is they will be more easily
capable of finding the right train.”
After two months of
planning, the selected international students went to the Global Lounge
at Yonsei University on August 23 to share their proposals at the Second
Seoul Town Meeting 2012 attended by Mayor Park Won-soon, who took
special interest in Lam’s proposal.
“He said right after he goes to the office he’ll do it,” said Hussain.
Lam’s
team was ecstatic at the mayor’s reaction. “After two months of hard
working and hearing that the mayor would like to implement our proposal,
it felt like nothing could have gone better,” she said. “Hopefully in
the future we can really see our proposal in the subway and of course
hopefully, it will really make it easier for the people in Seoul to use
the Seoul subway.”
Other proposals by the five other teams
tackled issues such as traffic, jobs for international students,
policies for social networking services, multiculturalism, and the
unique talents that foreigners bring to Korea.
Group A’s Travel
Green proposal offered ways to decrease traffic in Seoul and encourage
use of public transportation. They proposed the creation of a carpooling
website to help connect commuters, as well as an increase in shuttle
buses.
Group B’s Jobs for International Students addressed the
difficulties international students have finding legal work. They
proposed the creation of a website to help connect employers with
prospective interns and part-time workers interested in a working
holiday in Seoul, particularly in jobs related to tourism or culture.
Group
C made a proposal called Smart Seoul, suggesting policies for the Seoul
Global Center network’s SNS services. They suggested closer ties
between Seoul Global Centers, Village Centers, Cultural Tourism Centers,
and employee centers.
Group D’s presentation, “Building a
Harmonious Global City,” suggested policies for helping foreign
residents integrate more smoothly into Korean society. They advocated
providing volunteering and donation opportunities to get foreign
residents involved, and suggested the creation of a video about the
culture gap to encourage mutual understanding.
Group F’s
presentation, “A spoon of talent,” encouraged the Korean public school
system to take advantage of the talent pool of foreign residents. They
suggested increasing foreigner participation in the classroom beyond
language education, to help students understand multiculturalism. To
drive the point home, they incorporated a mini talent show into their
presentation, sharing art and staging a small martial arts
demonstration.
Now in its fifth year, the forum began in
2008 to give foreign residents a chance to share their diverse opinions
to find global solutions for Seoul. Previous proposals have covered
topics such making transportation signs more multilingual, increasing
the availability of Halal foods and providing better dietary
information, and more general concerns about health, hygiene, and the
immigration system.
“I think being part of SISF 2012 and the
Seoul Global Center gave us many opportunities to participating in many
excellent activities and meet great people,” said Lam. “I strongly
recommend students in Seoul to join SISF, because it is fun and
educational.”
The most outstanding participants are offered a
chance to join the Global Internship program and work as interns in
Seoul City Hall in 2013.
For more information about the SISF and the Seoul Global Center, visit their website (English, French, Japanese, Chinese, Korean).
By Jon Dunbar
Korea.net Editor