Setting Up Expectations: Studying and Living in South Korea

BINUS Korea Corner invited Tamara R. F Iskandar, a postgraduate student from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, to speak at its sharing session on “Setting Up Expectations: Studying and Living in South Korea” held on January 22nd, 2022.

Tamara previously earned her master’s degree in Urban Environment, Sustainability, and Climate Change from Erasmus University Rotterdam. Currently, she is pursuing another master’s degree in Green Business and Policy studies at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. In addition, Tamara has over three years of experience in project and grant management and expertise in proposal development, knowledge mobilization, partnership cultivation, and research analysis. She is also simultaneously working at Circle Economy as a Grants and Project Manager.

During the session, Tamara talked and discussed her personal views on South Korea with the audience. She advised that students should weigh the pros and cons before choosing to live or study in the country. One of the pros of studying in South Korea is the great number of scholarships offered. However, it is something to be considered that South Korea has a high-pressure educational, work, and social environment.

Tamara also explained the reasons to study in Korea. She revealed that South Korea has an excellent quality of education, and their IT, communication, media, and technology are among the best in the world. Hence, it makes South Korea a good choice for an international student to study. In addition, she stated that learning in Korea will open up a wide range of job opportunities and that graduates from Korean universities are highly sought after by employers worldwide and they even are eligible for a no-condition permanent visa after graduation, which is valid for up to 5 years and renewable.

Tamara advised students wishing to study in Korea to figure out what they want to do first
“What type of person do you aspire to be? What are things you like? And what are you looking for? By asking yourself those questions, you may easily find the right major, leading you to the type of career you want to pursue later on”, she added.

She also went over the procedures for applying to university and disclosed a list of scholarships available, also gave some other helpful advice, one of which was to practice comprehensive writing.

“Practice comprehensive writing because they would be asking like ten questions and you need to answer all of them in two paragraphs. It’s quite hard and once you are in and actually studying in Korea you would do a lot of reading and a lot of case study. So you have to do a lot of writings as well,” she said.