It was a life-changing experience for three students from the Faculty of Business and Management (FBM), Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Malaysia, Puncak Alam campus, when they were given the opportunity to participate in the Asian International Mobility for Students (AIMS) programme at Kangwon National University (KNU), Chuncheon, Republic of South Korea during the spring semester of February 2022. AIMS is SEAMEO RIHED’s (Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization Regional Centre specialising in higher education and development) flagship regional initiative to support student mobility and improve cooperation among Asian nations in higher education.
During the 5-months exchange program, the three FBM’s students, Siti Sarah, Muhammad Naqib and Dina Hanani attended various credit transfer classes under the department of international trade at KNU. Classes were taught entirely in English or in a dual language, Korean and English by the professors at KNU. At KNU, they were also given a chance to learn the Korean language to help them better adapt to their surroundings.
To further enhance their sense of university life at KNU and learn more about the language and culture of South Korea, the FBM’s students were paired with KNU’s students through the buddy program. They also visited places in South Korea such as Busan and Seoul, giving them the opportunity to learn beyond the classroom’s walls. For Siti Sarah, she found this program to be an experience that completely changed her life. While, Muhammad Naqib said, “this program was exciting and full of adventure as there were abundance of new things and knowledge to be explored”. Dina Hanani claimed, “the program was wonderful, beyond her expectations and had pushed students to be adventurous and go out of their comfort zone”.
Basically, this exchange program had provided the Malaysian students the educational experience that brings together local and foreign students to form networks and learn more about Korean history, culture, and business. Not only that, one of them was even awarded a scholarship by KNU. This once in a lifetime opportunity enabled the students to gain knowledge and experience that make them more grounded and probably could contribute to UiTM and the nation.
For the program’s video, go to https://youtu.be/FLZmV2KtMtE