English has power as the lingua franca in this world, and a lot of people study English. Keimyung University, with more than fifty years’ history since its foundation, has attracted lots of people who want to study foreign languages compared with other universities in the Daegu-Gyeongbuk area. The Keimyung Gazette visited the International Affairs Office and the Foreign Language Institute where studying foreign languages is highlighted.

International Affairs Office

The International Affairs Office provides global programs which encourage Keimyung students to explore many possibilities toward the world outside. Keimyung University has about 190 affiliated universities internationally. Up to this time, about six hundred Keimyung students have been to affiliated universities as exchange students. The Exchange Student Program can be a good chance for Keimyung students to experience other countries’ cultures and to study their major deeply on the spot.
Students who hope to become exchange students should have a grade point average of more than 3.0 (including F) and should obtain a CBT TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) score of no less than 200, IBT TOEFL 72, or IELTS (International English Language Testing System) 6.0. More information is provided by the below Web sites.
English: http://www.kmuintl.com
Chinese: http://keimyung.cafe24.com


Studying English at the Foreign Language Institute

When semester begins, English conversation, TOEFL, and TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication) classes, and those of Japanese conversation and JPT (Japanese Proficiency Test) are crowded with students who hope to upgrade their communication skills. Excellent lecturers are employed through in-depth evaluation and the registration fee is reasonable for students.
Nowadays, as communication ability in foreign languages is getting more and more important, Keimyung Foreign Language Institute is trying to develop such innovative and adopt helpful programs as ESPT (English Speaking Proficiency Test), the first qualification test of speaking test in Korea.


Studying Korean at the Korean Language Institute

The newly built International Education Center has the Korean Language Institute where foreign students come and broaden their Korean skills.
The Korean Language Institute emphasizes helping foreign students to improve their levels of Korean. Keimyung University assesses such abilities as grammar, writing, and speaking through a test of proficiency supervised by Keimyung. Student satisfaction in the International Education Center has been growing, and they also express their satisfaction with the class quality. Other universities selected Keimyung’s Korean study program as the optimal model in teaching Korean.
Keimyung is already looking forward for the future demand for Korean resulting from the large number of foreign students who come to Korea for study. For example, the newly established Department of Korean Studies’ bachelor’s degree and Department of Korean Education’s master’s degree is gaining popularity among Korean students who eagerly want to convey Korean culture and language to foreigners. In the case of the Korean education master’s degree, students with bachelor’s degrees can apply for the program.
Lastly, in the case of the Korean Teacher Training Program, trainees who complete more than 120 hours of the course get a certificate of completion and can apply for the Korean Teacher's License Examination, supervised by the National Institute of Korean Language. This contributes to increasing employment of Koreans, not only within Korea but also in the outside world, and promotes the prestige of the Korean language.