Korean students at the medical preparatory course of Pécs

56 Korean students have arrived to Pécs this year to complete the medical preparatory course launched by the university. The students' reception ceremony was held at the end of March.

Students have come to Pécs through the ENEC Korea educational agency. „We have worked with the International Studies Center at the University of Pécs for four years." - as we learned from Seonah Hong, representative of the agency. Their main responsibility is to provide information to interested students, and support applicants throughout the admission procedure. The staff of the agency assess the English language skills of students in an interview, as the prerequisite of studies in Hungary is to have at least basic English language competence. Then candidates complete a test in Chemistry and Biology, and the results are sent to the organisers in Pécs, who forward them to instructors of technical subjects. This year, all 56 applicants could come to Pécs - as Seonah Hong has informed us. Students were also visited by the South Korean ambassador in Hungary.

Basic information about the course

The preparatory program has become increasingly popular during the past years - Dr. Ella Álmos, Head of the International Studies Center told us. Courses comprise 120 contact hours in subjects related to the fields - Biology, Physics and Chemistry -, 80 in English for Medical Purposes, 120 in Academic English and 80 in Hungarian Language and Culture. Based on a preliminary test, technical subjects are taught to groups at different levels.

30 of the students were admitted to dormitories, and 26 are renting apartments in Pécs. Programs are organised to help them acquaint with the neighbourhood and the country in which most of them will continue their studies at university. All of this contributes to the adaptation of the newly arrived students to the new environment and culture.

Those who have already completed the course

Preparatory courses have been successfully organised in Pécs for several years now. Roh, a first-year student at the university, completed a month of the courses, which he has found very useful, especially the studies in Biology and Hungarian language. „The good thing is that they teach you only what you need to know for this university. The way they teach you in the preparatory course is very similar to the way they teach in the university. It was very good!" - he added.

Another student, Lee, applied to the Semmelweis University as well as to Pécs after the preparatory course, and there he also made good use of what he had learned at the preparatory course. „I made a really big progress in English. They taught Chemistry, Physics and Biology in English, it was a very big help!" - Lee has told us.

Roh has lived in Canada since his childhood, and thus he had no problem with the English language. He had learned Science at a Canadian university before, so he had enough knowledge of the discipline as well. He did not have to do the admission procedure, he got accepted with his marks. However, he has told us that the course is very useful for most of the Koreans, partly because they don't speak English very well.

Roh chose Pécs for personal reasons. He met a Hungarian doctor practising in Canada, who had completed the university in Budapest, but still recommended the medical program of Pécs. Roh and Lee were both equally satisfied with the program in Pécs.

Before the course

From the 56 newly arrived Korean students we reached Lee and talked to him. He shared with us his motivations for studying in Pécs. „I wanted to attend university in Europe, because I would have more options to practise in different countries. Pécs offers quite a good course, which enables me to go anywhere in the world."

He had not known anyone in Hungary before, he first heard about the preparatory course of Pécs from newspaper articles by the agency ENEC Korea. Then he searched the Internet himself, and found an online forum created by American students mainly from Debrecen, and a Korean online blog by a student in Budapest. „I would say online blogs and forums helped me a lot to decide whether to attend the preparatory course." - Lee added.

Answering our question he told us that he was satisfied with the services of the International Studies Center. He got all the information he needed, and has nice accommodation, which was organised by the Hungarians. Talking about his future plans, he told us that he wanted to get admitted to the university to study in Hungary, and also have fun here. He is planning to apply to the University of Pécs, the University of Szeged and the Semmelweis University in Budapest.