Yonsei International Summer School (YISS) is one of Yonsei’s signature international programs, offering a variety of undergraduate courses to international and domestic students during its six-week session.  This summer, which marked YISS’s thirtieth year, saw a record 1,392 international students from thirty-nine different countries participate in the program.  According to Yonsei officials, YISS is not only the top summer program in Korea, but also the best in Asia. 

—Opening of East Asian Studies and Korean Studies Courses

One of the key features of YISS is the number and variety of courses that students are able to choose from; in particular, YISS is distinguished by the broad array of Korean and East Asian Studies courses taught by renowned specialists in the fields. Overall, this summer YISS offered 114 courses in eight different areas: Arts, Culture, and Humanities, Korean Studies, Management and Economics, Science, Technology, and Environment, Korean Language, East Asian Studies, Global Issues, Conflict, and Cooperation, and Social Sciences.  

This summer, YISS welcomed faculty members from such American institutions as Cornell, Princeton, and Georgetown. In all, sixty-four professors taught at YISS, including forty-seven from overseas and sixteen from Yonsei. Three-quarters of the YISS faculty received doctorates from international universities.  

According to Georgetown Professor Victor D. Cha, who co-taught the seminar “Modern Asia” with three other faculty members: “YISS provides various points of views because the student body includes American, European and East Asian students. On average, students are very competent and participate aggressively in class, allowing interesting discussions in class.”

 —Korea Summer Internship Program and Yonsei Summer Research Internship

The Korea Summer Internship Program (KSIP), which was created in 2013, is one of YISS’s unique programs, offering students from international universities the opportunity to intern at Korean corporations and research centers while gaining academic credits.  This year, companies and organizations that participated in the KSIP included, among others, Hyundai Construction, SBS, Woori Bank, the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, and the Korean Institute of Finance.  This summer also saw the launch of the Yonsei Summer Research Internship (YSRI) program, which allows students to take part in research projects in one of Yonsei’s research centers or institutes. Fifteen students, including seven from the University of Oxford, participated in ongoing academic research projects under the tutelage of Yonsei professors and graduate students.   

Oxford chemistry student Darya Shchepanovska said that the research experience was invaluable, as it allowed her to apply theories learned in the classroom. She thus plans to recommend YISS to other students in England. 

—YISS: Part of Korean Wave (Hallyu) and Internationalization of Yonsei

 One of this summer’s international students was Lazara Gonzalez, a Cuban attending the University of Nevada.  Because Cuba does not have diplomatic relations with South Korea, Lazara, an avid K-Pop fan, had difficulties in obtaining a visa; nevertheless, she refused to let this dampen her enthusiasm for studying in Seoul over the summer. She worked part time for a full year and took out a student loan in order to pay for her plane ticket and tuition.  Lazara said she was impressed by the diverse student body at YISS, as well as by the quality and sophistication of the lectures she received.

In addition to its high-quality academic program, YISS organizes a field trip to Jeju Island before the start of the six-week session, and it hosts various entertainment and socializing events, such as K-Pop dance sessions, Korean cooking courses, and taekwondo lessons.  YISS also organizes a trip to the Boryung Mud Festival and tours of Seoul and the DMZ.