Korea University begins with support for students with enhanced awareness
Excel on your own terms, however different you are
Various support programs for students with disabilities
Established on October 1, 2008, the Center for Students with Disabilities is systematically working with students with disabilities by assigning dedicated personnel to aid them.
The Center for Students with Disabilities works to provide teaching and learning support and greater college life convenience for students with disabilities. In particular, it offers a variety of new programs, including the Jideokche program, special lectures on employment, disability-friendly campus projects, and educationalprograms in order to enhance the satisfaction with college life of students with disabilities and to improve awareness of both their needs and the contributions that can make. Among them, the Jideokche program, a specialized program for students with disabilities, supports intelligence, talent, and self-development programs among others, culture and art programs, and sports and experiential activity programs.
The Center for Students with Disabilities has educational activity support personnel who ensure that students with disabilities are not disadvantaged and who help guarantee their equal right to learn. In addition, in order to prevent students with disabilities from being discriminated against in tests and evaluations, separate test rooms, test period extensions, and customized test questions are provided. The center hires specialized educational support staff to help students with disabilities in their practical lives, and with sign language interpretation and stenography.
In addition, the center has supported the use of software and text interpretation programs for real-time shorthand in situations where face-to-face classes were not possible due to COVID-19. Thanks to this kind of comprehensive support, the Center for Students with Disabilities received the best rating from the National Institute of Special Education in the 2020 evaluation of the educational welfare of students with disabilities, and in 2021 it was awarded the Minister’s Commendation on the 41st Day of People with Disability
As of the first semester of 2022, a total of 224 undergraduate and graduate students with disabilities were using the services of Korea University’s Center for Students with Disabilities. The center goes beyond providing learning support for students with disabilities, as it also aids them in navigating the campus in the form of vehicle and voice guidance services. About 10 students with disabilities regularly use the transportation support vehicle service. This service, which could be applied for offline, has recently been integrated into the ‘Hoit-Korea University mobile integrated app’ so that it can now be easily accessed through mobile phones.
Taking the lead in raising awareness of students with disabilities
Shining a Light in the Corner, ‘Mohae’ formed
The Center for Students with Disabilities is also working diligently to overcome the misguided perceptions that non-disabled people have about people with disabilities.
By planning and carrying out team projects in which disabled and non-disabled students participate together, the center broadens the awareness of and familiarity with disability and fosters an accurate understanding of it. Korea University is striving to create a disabled-friendly campus by realizing the goals of Korea University Barrier Free (KUBF), which will lead to a campus free from psychological and physical obstacles. The Center for Students with Disabilities has held disability-related quizzes for students at events such as Disabled Person’s Day, Seoktap Daedongje (The Granite Tower Festival), and the annual Ko-Yon Games, and organized cultural performances by disabled artists and campaigns on KU-Message to improve awareness of the disabled.
By running the student support group ‘Mohae’ (Shining a Light the Corner), we are taking the lead in eliminating discrimination and prejudice against people with disabilities through various disability awareness campaigns and events.
Since the establishment of the center in 2015, Mohae has been carrying out various activities to improve disability awareness. In addition to social media promotion activities, it hosts an event on Day of People with Disability every year, conducts disability awareness quizzes and braille experience events, and so on in order to promote human rights and improve awareness of the disabled, and strives to raise awareness of the need for respect for diversity. All proceeds from the last fundraising event were donated to the development fund for students with disabilities, in this way contributing to the enhancement of the campus life of these students. In recognition of this achievement, the center was honored with Korea University’s first Diversity Award.
Meanwhile, the Center for Students with Disabilities was selected for the Ministry of Education’s 2022 national treasury support project, ‘College Life Experience Support Project for the Social Integration of High School Students with Disabilities’’. As part of this project, high school students enrolled in special schools visited Korea University in 2022 and received admission information and department introductions, club introductions and hands-on experience, a tour of the school campus, and meetings with senior students with disabilities. Through this program, Korea University provided high school students with disabilities with information on college entrance criteria and opportunities to explore potential careers, and gained the opportunity to discover outstanding students, without the barriers of discrimination and prejudice standing in the way.
Activities of Mohae at the 2022 Ko-Yon Games
A campus without discrimination,
Korea University Center for Human Rights & Gender Equity, creating a culture of gender equality
The Korea University Center for Human Rights and Gender Equality was established in 2016, and provides counseling and assistance in relation to various human rights issues that may arise on campus. Efforts are being made to improve the level of sensitivity to human rights in schools through various educational programs.
The Human Rights Center has been running ‘Human Rights and Gender Equality’ lectures since the first semester of 2017 to improve awareness of the importance of gender equality among school members. The center provides counseling services for those who need to find a person to talk to and solve problems when their human rights are violated, and runs a support program composed of students who are enrolled in the school. Those who share the goals of the Center for Human Rights and Gender Equality study and discuss human rights and gender equality in order to create a university culture and educational environment that is based on respect for human rights and gender equality, and play a role in promoting a culture of respect for human rights and gender equality on campus.