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GIST students travel to Moldova as IT volunteers
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- REG_DATE : 2015.07.21
- HIT : 1080
GIST students travel to Moldova as IT volunteers
GIST students teaching Korean language at the ULIM (Free International University of Moldova) Korean Cultural Center.
GIST College sent 16 IT volunteers to Moldova from July 1 to 31 for IT training and cultural exchange activities. The students are being supervised by GIST College physics professor Dr. Corneliu Sochichiu, a native of Moldova.
The mission was made possible by the National Information Society Agency of Korea after signing an agreement last year with various national science and technology universities to send qualified student volunteers to help train and improve IT standards of developing countries. There are six science and technology universities participating in this project, and GIST was selected for Moldova this year after going to Vietnam last year.
Moldova is a landlocked country near the Black Sea with a population of 3.5 million. Moldova is the poorest country in Europe with only one tenth the GDP per person when compared to Korea.
Volunteer teams consist of four students, and four teams were created. Two teams were sent to ULIM (Universitatea Liberă Internațională din Moldova – English name: Free International University of Moldova) in Chișinău, the capital of Moldova. Two other teams were sent to Oxentia and Budesti, respectively, and assigned to local children’s centers for IT training. The teams had cross-cultural exchanges with the elementary, middle, high school, and the university students, including people from the local community.
In particular, Korean language courses and a Korean Culture Center were established at ULIM, and there are many students who speak Korean well enough to communicate and participates in cross-cultural exchanges.
Lilia Galin, the director of Oxentea children’s center said, “It’s good to see GIST students form good relationships with our local students, and we hope that these projects continue in the future as well.”
Visiting officials from GIST College and the local students participated in outdoor activities at Oxentea children’s center.
Meanwhile, to offer encouragement to GIST students and to strengthen educational networks with the agency, Dean Do-Kyeong Ko of GIST College and academic support director Yong Ryul Kim visited the country.
During the visit, Pavel Filip, the Minister of Informational Technologies and Communication of Moldova, personally arranged the welcoming ceremony for the Korean volunteers and showed utmost appreciation. Even the local television news station was interested and came out to cover the delegation from Korea.
Deputy Minister of Informational Technologies and Communication, Vitalie Tarlev (second on the left) is meeting with the GIST delegation.
GIST went on to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with ULIM to promote future international exchanges, and GIST plans to use Moldova as the base country in Eastern Europe.
The Korean delegation also signed a MOU with Yuri Dubcoveţchi, the Dean of Computer Science, Engineering, and Design at ULIM.
So-haeng Kim, a chemistry student said, “I was concerned about my academic preparation and future career plans, but after after coming to Moldova, I was glad that I volunteered. I have great pride for Korea, and I will do my best to represent the excellence of Korean culture and GIST.”
Dean Ko of GIST College said, “Our students are building global competence with a variety of experiences. Providing this academic foundation corresponds well to the GIST philosophy of 3C1P (Creativity, Cooperation, Communication, and Problem Solving) in cultivating human resourcefulness. Moreover, volunteer activities such as this cannot be learned in a classroom, but through these valuable experiences, our students will gain an excellent opporunity to develop into the elite scientists of tomorrow.”