Seoul Global Student Center Supports Growing Number Of Int'l Students In Sinchon

Sinchon in western Seoul is one of the city’s most vibrant university neighborhoods, and as the number of international students grows, it's also an ideal location to open a support center serving them.
 
Home to universities like Yonsei University, Ewha Womans University and Sogang University, Sinchon is an area bustling with people. International students are also part of the group, with Yonsei University hosting the largest number of international students in 2024 — 4,367 students pursuing degree and exchange programs — according to the Korean Association of Private University Presidents.
 
While Sinchon can be a place for students to have fun, eat out and enjoy a drink, being a university neighborhood, there are also places that students can turn to for help.  
 
One is the Seoul Global Student Center, run by the city's Seoul Global Center and located less than five minutes away from the Sinchon subway station.  
 
 
As the name suggests, the center offers various programs that international students can participate in, but with a focus on career and entrepreneurship support. On April 22, around 15 international students were seated in a classroom at the center, learning about e-commerce and how to sell products through livestreams.
 
With a phone propped up on a table in the front of the classroom, a student went up to try livestreaming and demonstrate selling a face cream. Everything was just like a real livestream, with the student showing how the cream applies on camera, explaining a special discount only available during the livestream and talking about an event for those who leave comments to increase engagement from potential viewers.
 
The program, titled the K-beauty Global Live Commerce Course, is arranged by the Seoul Global Center in collaboration with Shopee for international students interested in e-commerce. While April 22 was the last class of the three-session program, selected outstanding participants will receive additional benefits, such as the ability to rent filming equipment and space for livestreams and the opportunity to participate in the Korea Brand Festival in May.  
 
"I got to know the program through a friend, and found details via the Seoul Global Center online bulletin," said Yang Mi-Kyung, a Vietnamese student who attended the class, going by her Korean name. "I became interested because I have experience selling clothes through livestreams, and I decided to sign up because I was curious how I could do that in Korea through Shopee."
 
There can be various areas considered as career support, and the center hopes to create more programs that help students develop skills actively sought out by companies that want to hire international students. 
 
 
"Companies that seek international talent have demand to hire in fields such as marketing, translation or areas that can help businesses expand abroad," said Kweon Bo-guen, head of the Seoul Global Center. "Our career support programs are created in line with those demands, and we tend to have a lot of programs in marketing, trade or things like today's global seller program. Some programs teach how to use office tools, and when we teach Korean, we mostly do business Korean classes."
 
The Seoul Global Student Center is made up of two separate buildings, with the two buildings located just across a small alleyway from each other.  
 
The Career Hub building, where the e-commerce class took place, is a four-story building that will mostly offer career support programs. The building's second floor has individual meeting rooms and study cafe-like desks that students can come and use. A Global Community Lounge for more casual group study sessions is available on the third floor, with a job board that allows visitors to browse job openings for international students. Classes are typically held on the fourth floor, which has a classroom that can seat around 30 students.  
 
The second Startup Hub building will host entrepreneurship-related programs, and is currently finishing up renovations. It is set to open in early May. The building will have an open space for gatherings and consultations on the first and second floors, with a classroom that can seat 30 students on the third floor.  
 
While the Startup Hub gets ready to officially open, the Career Hub has been busy hosting international students.
 
One of the four business Korean classes offered by the Seoul Global Center is held at the Sinchon center until May 7, as well as one of the advanced level Test of Proficiency in Korean (Topik) classes that will run until May 12.  
 
A meeting with international student representatives and a Career Day in which visitors could get job consultations was also held in April.  
 
Lots of students have already come to use the open study space, such as a language exchange group from Sogang University and a group of international students working on job searching together. It also hasn't been just those attending universities in Sinchon that have been visiting, as the neighborhood is home to many international students living alone regardless of the universities they are enrolled in.
 
While the new center in Sinchon will have a student focus, Seoul Global Center's main office near Jonggak Station in Jongno District, central Seoul, will continue to host support programs for Seoul's larger international population.  
  
"The one in Jonggak is our main center, and there we have programs that are for all foreign nationals living in Korea, not just international students," said Kweon. "But we do try to differentiate ourselves from other foreign resident support centers, and have a bit more focus on career and entrepreneurship. While main classes can be held [in the Seoul Global Center], it's easier for international students to access Sinchon because it's near lots of universities. So we plan to have more community and networking programs here [in Sinchon]."

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]