충북대학교신문방송사

On Aug. 1, a notice titled “Guidelines for Selecting Volunteer Scholarships by Department for the Second Semester of 2024” was posted on the CBNU website. According to this notice, the number of volunteer scholarship students available has been reduced to 8 (5 from the General Education Division, 2 from the Disability Support Center, and 1 from the Section of Career and Employment Office of Student Affairs), which is a staggering decrease of 43 from the total of 51 selected in the first semester of 2024. The reason for this reduction can be found in the revised “CBNU Tuition Fund Scholarship Management Guidelines,” which was amended on Aug. 13. The noteworthy changes in the revision include: ▲Specification of amounts by scholarship grade for freshmen and registered students ▲The reflection of Certified English test scores in the criteria of scholarship selection ▲Clarification of scholarship qualifications, payment methods, and selection standards. Notably, Article 6, Section 4 of the revision states: Undergraduate Laboratory Internship Scholarships (hereinafter referred to as Internship Scholarships) shall be operated based on a separate plan established each semester, and the criteria of selection must include Certified English test scores. This provision indicates that the reduction of volunteer scholarships has been transformed into the introduction of internship scholarships.

In the department that previously selected volunteer scholarship students, students have been in charge of the assistance of administrative work and environment management. In contrast, internship scholarship students differ in that they can do activities related to their majors and academic studies along with administrative work as internship. According to the Office of Student Affairs, a total of 350 internship scholarship students have been selected including 14 students from the College of Humanities, 17 from the College of Social Sciences, 66 from the College of Natural Sciences, 26 from the College of Business, 59 from the College of Engineering, 55 from the College of Electrical & Computer Engineering, 58 from the College of Agriculture, Life & Environment Sciences, 5 from the College of Education, 5 from the College of Human Ecology, 20 from the College of Veterinary Medicine, 14 from the College of Pharmacy, 5 from the College of Medicine, and 6 from the Convergence Department. As the name suggests, internship scholarships include the purpose of encouraging graduate school advancement and increasing students’ interest in graduate studies by creating research experience through internship works in laboratories. Lee Su-min (21, Department of Architecture), who works as an internship scholarship student, said, “I heard that other laboratory assistants also gain experience related to their majors based on the work they do in laboratories, and get opportunities to learn. In my case, I was interested in the behavior of the most basic people, Building Information Modeling (BIM), and coding in various fields of architecture. Currently, using internship scholarships as a stepping stone, I am participating in The Korean Housing Association which makes me organize and present my thoughts related to the type of residence and compose abstract ideas more logically. After that, I plan to make suggestions on life and architectural systems by conducting activities including basic coding and Arduino (meaning open-source electronic platforms based on intuitive hardware and software).”

On the other hand, liberal arts track internship scholarship students showed differences in activities from science and engineering college internship scholarship students. Jeon Yu-na (21, Department of Korean Language and Literature), who works as an internship scholarship student, said, “If existing volunteer scholarship students help with the management of the department, internship scholarships can be seen as close to the research assistance of professors. I work freely without going to the department office, helping professors with classes, searching for research materials, and organizing them.”

Internship scholarship students can work up to 8 hours a day, 10 hours a week, and 30 hours a month during the semester, and can work up to 8 hours a day, 20 hours a week, and 60 hours a month within the budget during the vacation. Hwang Jung-hwan (19, School of Electronics Engineering), an internship scholarship student, said, “The hourly wage is about 11,000 KRW, and I work 30 hours a month freely according to the regulations. In the field of circuit design, which is my main major, if there is a task or project in the laboratory, I will perform the assignment after the seminar. Usually, there are several circuits in one chip, and several of them are taken care of to design and layout (meaning effectively arranging each component in a limited space) to learn more about master᾽s or higher-level majors,” he said. Meanwhile, Jeon said, “My goal is to go to graduate school, but it is especially helpful in that I can notice what the state-funded literature academia that professors study is like through internship scholarship activities. However, I feel that the role of internship as an undergraduate student, not as a research student or graduate student, is ambiguous. From the professor’s point of view, it was ambiguous to actively support and help undergraduates who came as scholarship students, and there was also a lack of sense of belonging among them,” expressing regret over the internship scholarship student.

The criteria for selecting internship scholarship students for each college and department are slightly different in terms of the number of students selected, documents submitted, and details of business affairs, but the same is true in that they reflect certified English test scores in the selection conditions. “When applying, our department submitted applications, professor recommendations, academic plans, and transcripts, focusing on students aiming to enter graduate school,” said Jeon. Kim Ji-hun (19, School of Electrical Engineering), an internship scholarship student, said, “In the case of the School of Electrical Engineering, they recruit students directly from the department office in general, but I contacted the academic adviser at the laboratory directly because I was interested in his field of study.” Also, Lee said, “Fortunately, I could have an opportunity to work as an internship scholarship students thanks to Certified English test score.” Like Lee, there were many cases in which existing students in the laboratory were selected as internship scholarship students. Regarding the actual effect of operation and advantages and disadvantages of internship scholarship students, Hwang said, “I believe that the internship scholarships effectively fulfills its purpose by allowing students to work on projects in the challenging field of circuit design, an area that is difficult to do at the undergraduate level while receiving compensation as an internship.” Kim said “It is a big advantage to receive a salary while studying my major, but sometimes it is burdensome to study and do research at the same time during the exam period.” Lee said, “If your interests are certain, it can be an opportunity to gain a wider range of learning and deep experience, so intern scholarships can be a good choice.”

On the other hand, some employees express their dissatisfaction with the volunteer scholarships being reduced. The person in charge of the CBNU Center for the Advancement of Science said, “Our institution conducts a lot of science activities classes in elementary, middle, and high schools. Previously, the volunteer scholarship students mainly helped instructors prepare for classes. Students play a significant role in cutting lines, making one-person science experiment kits, and a variety of paperwork. However, the volunteer scholarship students disappeared without any notice. I think it would have been better if each department had properly investigated the need for volunteer scholarship students and changed the policy in advance. Employees are having difficulties due to the increase in workload because of the decision made without prior investigation,” she said.

Although it is an internship scholarship student program which has been newly established to promote students’ academic and learning abilities in its workplace, it seems that it did not properly prepare for the adverse effects of reducing the number of volunteer scholarship students. Internship scholarship students are ultimately an attempt to create a better educational environment, but it seems necessary to balance the two scholarship systems: internship scholarship students and volunteer students.

By Jeong Ha-yeon

hayeon0330@chungbuk.ac.kr