Top Univ. to Offer Preliminary Education for Freshmen

Seoul National University said yesterday that it will provide next year’s freshmen with up to four weeks of “camp education” to help them adjust to college education.

The move comes amid more freshmen gaining admission through a system that does not use text scores, with some complaining of difficulty in taking courses.

The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology provided a “bridge program” in August that grants credit for cyber lectures taken by freshmen to better prepare them for college-level courses before their first semester. Seoul National University, however, is the country’s first one to expand preliminary courses to nearly a month.

Seoul National University will give offer classes to some 600 freshmen admitted for the 2010 school year through the admissions officer system.

Such students need customized pre-admission education given their wide variety of academic interests or backgrounds and big gaps in academic ability, the school said.

“We plan to raise their interest in basic learning by teaching them how to think and express themselves in English and build mathematical thinking and knowledge,” a university professor said.

The program includes a week of integrated intellect training, followed by a week of creative thinking and writing, three weeks of math, and two weeks of English.

constant25@donga.com