Study of Korean Language Education for Arabic Students: Based on the Cases of Saudi Arabian Students

Journal of Korean Language Education 27 English Edition: 3778. The paper investigates the cause of Saudi Arabian students (among Arabic students) academic underachievement and attempts to provide students with successful studyabroad life in South Korea through suggesting efficient learning methods. Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission in the Republic of Korea conducted a survey on Korean language education centers in each university where Saudi Arabian students are currently taking their studyabroad language courses. The survey collected data on important factors to explain academic failure which includes education curriculum and schedule necessary for Saudi Arabian students, necessary class hours per week, classroom capacity, challenges facing students, and sections in which students lack comprehension. Based on the survey, Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission endeavored to come up with Korean language education reform for Saudi Arabian students: customized supplementary class, active student management support, systemized management structure, and provision of culture and education exchange platform.

Arabic Students: Based on the Cases of Saudi

Arabian Students

Hesham A Khadawardi(Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission in the Republic of Korea)

Abstract Hesham Khadawardi 2016 Study of Korean Language Education for Arabic Students: Based on the Cases of Saudi Arabian Students.

Journal of Korean Language Education 27 English Edition: 37-78

The paper investigates the cause of Saudi Arabian students (among Arabic students) academic under-achievement and attempts to provide students with successful study-abroad life in South Korea through suggesting efficient learning methods Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission

in the Republic of Korea conducted a survey on Korean language education centers in each university where Saudi Arabian students are currently taking their study-abroad language courses The survey collected data on important factors to explain academic failure which includes education curriculum and schedule necessary for Saudi Arabian students, necessary class hours per week, classroom capacity, challenges facing students, and sections in which students lack comprehension Based on the survey, Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission endeavored to come up with Korean language education reform for Saudi Arabian students: customized supplementary class, active student management support, systemized management structure, and provision

of culture and education exchange platform Achievement of the education reform is evaluated in the light of the statistics of TOPIK (Test of Proficiency in Korean) 1) scores and the changes in attitude

1) Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK), a standardized Korean language proficiency test, is administered and supervised by the Korean ministry of education, and hosted

by Korean National Institute for International Education The exam has been taking place since 1997 in order to guide Korean language study directions to overseas

and attendance of Saudi Arabian students before and after the implementation of the customized program Becoming alert to Saudi students’ deficiencies particularly in the reading and writing section, the cultural mission came up with a learning curriculum focused on these skills Moreover, supplementing the examination of the cultural mission education reform, the paper discusses the success of the cultural mission's customized language program designed in particular for Saudi dentists who had to achieve higher levels of Korean language command

in order to begin dentist residency programs in Korean hospitals

Keywords: Arabic students, customized supplementary class,

student management support, systemized management structure, learning curriculum focused on academic reading and writing, Korean language assistant

변: 히샴 카다와르디 상필 2016 아랍어권 학습자를 위한 한국어 교육 방안에 대한 고찰 : 사우디아라비아 학습자의 사례를 바탕으로 한국어교

육 제 27권 영문호: 37-78 본 논문은 아랍어권 학습자인 사우디아라비아 학습자들의 학습 부진의 원인을 규명하고, 그들에게 효과적인 학습방안

읽기와 쓰기 교육’ 방안을 제시하였다 또한 본 논문이 사우디아라비아 유학생에게 뿐만 아니라 아랍어권 유학생 전체에 적용할 수 있는 일반화 방안을 위해 사우디아라비아 치과연수생 한국어 교육 프로그램을 소개

하고 그들에게 효과적이었던 도우미와 과제 진행하기 등을 소개하였다 주제어: 아랍어권 학습자, 맞춤형 보충수업, 학생관리지원, 시스템화된

관리체계, 학문목적 읽기와 쓰기 중심 학습 방안, 한국어 도우미

1 Introduction

A significant element of globalization, higher education sector has become a key element to states’ plans for development where universities are adopting enforcement policies to promote their international competitiveness and outstanding human resource allocation to a wider global audience of students Data from OECD and UNESCO Statistics Committee reflect a rapid and sophisticated increase in the internationalization of the field of higher education The number of students attracted to higher education institutions in foreign countries has witnessed a consistent rise from 1.7 million in the year 1990, 3 million in 2005, and up to 4.5 million

in 2012 (OECD, Education at a Glance, 2012)

After the launch of Study Korea Project in 2004, the number of international students in South Korea has risen steeply The students’ nationalities, however, were largely lopsided; students from Asian regions took up 87% of the total international students Chinese students alone, for example, constituted 60% Total number of international students went up

to 91,332 in total by 2015, according to the Ministry of Education (Chart 1) Accordingly, South Korea is expanding its efforts to enhance

competence of universities and nation through allocation of outstanding international human resources

Nationality Language

Course

Degree of Course

Other Programs Total

Percentage

by Nationality Bachelor Master Doctor

The number of study-abroad students from Saudi Arabia, in particular, has started from less than 100 in 2010 The number increased significantly

in 2013, currently reaching up to about 600 (Figure 1: Data released by Korean Ministry of Education in 2015) This number from Saudi Arabia occupies an overwhelmingly large proportion compared to other Arab countries Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission, a government institution whose function includes managing students from Saudi Arabian government scholarship program, has not only been constantly aware of Saudi students’ struggles in Korean language courses, but has been also devising diverse ways to improve their Korean language acquisition, for Korean language

is a necessary condition to obtain academic degrees in South Korean universities The paper introduces the Korean language education program support project for enhancing Korean language learning efficiency mainly subjected to Saudi Arabian students; the project has been planned and operated since the middle of 2013 by Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission in collaboration with Korean universities Entailed by the project’s success record, the paper proposes a number of methods for enhancing the efficiency

of Korean language education on the basis of the Saudi Arabian student

2) This paper focuses on the university-run regular Korean language learning courses for Saudi Arabian students Korean language education institutions affiliated with universities normally operate their regular course 20 hours a week, 4 hours a day,

10 weeks per semester, 4 semesters in a year Classes are usually composed of 6 levels: beginner (1~2 level), intermediate (3~4 level), and high (5~6 level) Textbooks are self-developed by respective universities, including Seoul National University, Korea University, Yonsei University, Kyunghee University, Seogang University, and others Other universities of smaller scale select and use textbooks from other institutions Integrated textbooks tend to be preferred, but wide selection of Korean language textbooks are also available in different function, purpose, linguistic background, category classification, level, and subjects Each institute chooses their own textbooks which suit their own respective course curriculum.

cases as well as the experience of Saudi Arabia Cultural Mission experience with the academia, administration and management of Korean universities.

The composition of this paper goes as follows Part 2 reveals the status quo and current data regarding Arabic students conducting their studies in South Korea Part 3 follows with data about Saudi Arabian students and challenges pertaining to their Korean language education Support programs devised to amend such difficulties, and resultant successful influence is covered in Part 4 Part 5 discusses proposals pertaining to how Korean language education could be developed further, followed by Part 6 closing

up with the summary of the overall findings

Distinct differences exist between the kind of education Saudi Arabian students have been receiving back in their own country and that of South Korea Analysts of Saudi pedagogy comments that the education system of Saudi Arabia relies upon professors passing uncontested knowledge on to students, particularly that students must memorize without imparting analytical thinking skills There also has been criticism that Saudi education

is faculty-centered rather than student-centered Saudi students are also taught 'stream of consciousness' writing (Susan&Bilal, 2015), as opposed to the systematic method of Korean writing education system involving organization of ideas and content Such a gap in education method between South Korea and Saudi Arabia poses difficult barriers which Saudi Arabian students need to overcome for successful engagement with Korean education pedagogy This paper is expected to contribute as a base material to the development of customized education programs for Arab learners in a way

to overcome their socio-cultural and linguistic difference in background,

leading to the most efficient learning of Korean language

2 Status Quo of Arab Students Studying in South Korea

In 2015, a total of 1,140 Arab students are studying in South Korea If analyzed by country, among 22 countries using Arabic as their common tongue, Saudi Arabia takes up the biggest percentage (51%), followed by Egypt(10.3%) and Morocco(9.2%)

Source: Ministry of Education, 2015 International Students in South Korea Open Statistics

on Status Quo

1) Arab Nations refers to 22 countries which use Arabic as the common language, including Morocco, Lebanon, Tunisia, Bahrain, Palestine, Egypt, Sudan, Yemen, Oman, Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Algeria, Djibouti, Jordan, Mauritania, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Libya, Iraq, Qatar, and Comoros.

<Figure 1> Arab 1) Students Studying-abroad in South Korea

Among the international students studying in South Korea in 2015, study course distribution of Arab students (Figure 1, footnote1 ) is as follows (Chart 2): Language training 351 people (30.8%), university/technical college 398 people (34.9%), graduate course 331 people (29%), and etc training 59 people (5.2%)

Region

Study Course

Total Language

Training

University/

Technical College

Masters Degree

Doctors Degree

ETC

Training Arab

<Chart 2> Arabic Students Studying in South Korea Study Course Distribution (2015)

3 Korean Language Education for Saudi Arabian Students 3-1 Status Quo of Saudi Arabian Students

As mentioned in Part 2, the number of Arab students in South Korea is

on the rise, which is interlinked with the number of Saudi Arabian students

in that Saudi Arabian students constitute the largest proportion As Figure 2 shows, the number of Saudi Arabian students has been steadily increasing from

17 people in 2003 to a huge leap of 581 people in 2015 The data which is the total statistics conducted by the Ministry of education includes all types

of study-abroad students from Saudi Arabia: Self-supported students, Saudi Arabian institution-supported students, Saudi Arabian government scholarship students, etc

Source: Kwon Hyun Sook, Development/Research of Korean Language Education Course for Arabic Learners, Doctorate Degree Paper, February 2016 (Recomposed with reference to the source)

<Figure 2> Number of Saudi Arabian Study-Abroad Students in South Korea

If analyzed by study courses, Saudi Arabian students are mostly engaged

in university/technical college and language training In 2015, 52% out of the total of 581 Saudi Arabian students was enrolled in undergraduate, 35% in language program, and 12% in graduate course (Figure 3)

Source: Ministry of Education, 2015 International Students in South Korea Open Statistics

on Status Quo

1) Number of Saudi Arabian students studying in South Korea, statistics conducted by the ministry of education in 2015 was in total 581 people.

<Figure 3> 2015 Proportion of Saudi Arabian Study-Abroad Students 1) by their

Academic Study Course

Administered by Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission in the Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabian government scholarship students to South Korea can largely be classified

as two: The King Abdullah Foreign Scholarship Program and TVTC (Technical and Vocational Training Corporation) program In 2016 spring semester, approximately 30% of the total scholarship students managed by Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission were TVTC students and the rest 70% is the King Abdullah Scholarship students The King Abdullah Scholarship students generally come to South Korea to proceed their studies in undergraduate or graduate degree after finishing their high school or university in their home country Passing a maximum

of 2 years of Korean language training course, they move on to a degree course TVTC Scholarship students have already finished two years at a technical college

in Saudi Arabia They proceed on to university 3rdyear in Korean universities which

is in agreement with TVTC TVTC students take Korean language training course

of around 12~18months

In 2007, when Saudi Arabian students first started their study-abroad journey

to South Korea, Saudi government established the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission

in the Republic of Korea in 2009 for efficient management of Saudi scholarship students and to promote cultural and academic exchange between Saudi Arabia and South Korea According to the data collected on November 2015 by the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission, the total number of Saudi students enrolled in Korean language course and undergraduate/graduate university degree course is 483 (Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission conducts statistical research in number of students based only on Saudi Arabian government scholarship programs It may therefore be different from that of the Korean ministry of education which includes Individually-supported students, other institution-supported students, or Aramco scholarship students on top of the Saudi government scholarship students.) All

students are studying in 29 different university education institutions

<Chart 3> Number of Saudi Arabian Government Scholarship Students (November

2015)

3-2 Challenges and Analysis of Korean Language Education

to Saudi Arabian Study-abroad Students in South Korea

Scholarship students who have come to study abroad in South Korea have received Korean language education for 1~2 years in university-affiliated Korean language institutions with the purpose of continuing their studies in Korean university degree courses However, their academic achievement was quite low It was hard for many students to pass TOPIK level 1~2 even after finishing their 1~2 years of Korean language training courses However, since TOPIK was not a requirement for foreign students to apply for Korean

Korean Language Course 1)

Degree Course 2)

Total Undergraduate Graduate

Number of students 91+ 14(Dentistry

Source: Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission in the Republic of Korea

1) These statistics indicate the number of Saudi Arabian government scholarship students enrolled

in the Korean language course provided by universities in fall 2015, and the number of institutions of such Universities may vary in their respective fall semester opening schedule, but generally they are from September to November.

2) These statistics indicate the number of Saudi Arabian government scholarship students who are actually enrolled in degree courses in November 2015, and the number of institutions

of such.

3) Among the Korean language course universities where Saudi Arabian government scholarship students are studying in, only two universities have no students in the degree courses Thus, Korean language course and degree courses in total of 29 universities holdSaudi Arabian government scholarship students

universities, most Saudi Arabian students were not serious about TOPIK scores

or their Korean language skills when moving on to degree courses As shown

in Chart 4 released by the National Institute for International Education in

2012, which indicates status quo of TOPIK test-takers, both the number of exam applicants and successful examinee were low (For reference, the number

of Saudi Arabian students studying in South Korea announced by the Ministry

of Education was 224 in total in 2012) However, as Ministry of Education recommended universities to include TOPIK scores as necessary requirement for enrollment and as more and more universities started accepting it, TOPIK level 3 became the necessary requirement for degree-course entrance Accodingly, Saudi Arabian students started to focus mainly on universities with no TOPIK condition or those which easily allows substitution for such requirement The rather more difficult challenge was with the graduation requirement Students may have maneuvered their way into the enrollment, but many failed to meet the TOPIK score necessary to graduate Their graduation was put off, not to mention many not being able to catch up with class materials and resulting in grade failure Indeed, Korean language skill plays

a pivotal role in academic achievement and the overall quality of study-abroad life and satisfaction And hence, improving the efficiency of Korean language learning and skills was an urgent task

-Source: National Institute for International Education (NIIED) TOPIK support team

<Chart 4> Number of Saudi Arabian Applicants and Successful Examinees (2012)

② Analysis

Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission in the Republic of Korea studied the reasons for Saudi Arabian students’ slow language acquirement and low academic achievement and devised solutions for deficiencies In April 2013, a survey was conducted on 17 universities which were providing Saudi Arabian students with Korean language education, with the purpose of understanding the reality

of Korean language education and to suggest programs to suit their attributes Questionnaire used in the survey is indicated below in Chart 5

Questions 1) How do you operate the hours of Korean language class for students aiming for university admission?

2) How is the class formed?

3) How many students do you allocate in one class for efficient language learning? 4) What is the textbook you currently use in class? Please write the name of the textbook if you are using the one made by your institution in ①.If your textbook

is made from the other institutions, please write in ②.

5) How is the academic assessment done?

6) What academic curriculum is your institution opening for TOPIK preparation? 7) Do you have mentoring or buddy programs to support students’ language acquirement and adjustment to Korean culture?

8) How is the students’ evaluation of the program?

9) How many times do you conduct student consultation a semester (10 weeks)? 10) How often do you conduct culture experience events a semester (10 weeks)? 11) Is your dormitory enough to accommodate every student?

12) How many students are allocated in a single dormitory room?

13) Is the dormitory equipped with convenience facilities for students?

14) Do your Saudi Arabian students participate in diverse study-abroad student competitions?

15) What do you think that Saudi Arabian students need most reinforcement on in learning?

16) What is the reason for your answer in question15?

<Chart 5> Survey on Korean Language Education for Saudi Arabian Students

Answers from Chart 5 survey questionnaires which took place before the implementation of Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission’s Korean language education reform can be summarized as follows (Figure 4) In terms of Korean language education course for passing TOPIK level 3, most universities have answered that on a 1-year course basis, 6 hours a day (morning regular class

4 hours + afternoon supplementary class 2 hours), 30 hours a week would

be efficient Regular courses will mostly be composed of multi-national students, and supplementary courses in the afternoon shall be composed of either multi-national or Saudi Arabian students only depending on the university In regular session, most universities replied that 11~13 multinational students studying and communicating together will be helpful

In the case of supplementary course, it would be better to limit the number

of students to 3~4, so that they could receive more private support More than 70% of the universities conducted student consultation 3 times or even frequently if necessary in one semester (10 weeks) Every school also held Korean culture experience events at least once a year Most universities chose speaking and writing as the section which Saudi Arabian students lack ability

Questions 17) Please specify if you have any ideas of reinforcement method for your answer in question 15.

18) What is the biggest problem that you notice in Saudi Arabian students? 19) What do you think are the ways to solve such problems you mentioned in question 18?

20) Lastly, please specify education methods and programs of your institution that you think is the most efficient

* This survey was conducted on April 24 th , 2013, participated by Ulsan University, Korea Polytechnic University, Sangmyeong University, Gangwon University, Gyemyung University, Kookmin University, Kyunghee University, Sookmyung Women’s University, Seoul Women’s University, Yeongnam University, Hanyang University, Inha University, Ewha Women’s University, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Yeongsan University, Yonsei University, and Seogang University

the most To be more specific, Saudi Arabian students lack understanding in Korean vowels and consonants, not to mention being very slow at learning speaking and writing expressions due to considerable difference in grammatical order of Korean and Arabic language Universities also replied that significant problems of Saudi Arabian students are low attendance rate, insincere attitude

in class, and the fact that they struggle through hard time not being able to keep up with class materials

<Figure 4> Result of Korean Language Education for Saudi Arabian Student Survey

Taking into reference the results of the data collected from the above survey, problems arising from common characteristics of Saudi Arabian students can

be summarized as follows First, Saudi Arabian students lack motivation for studying Korean language Since neither TOPIK nor proof of Korean language proficiency was required for university entrance or transfer, the purpose and the immediate motivation of learning the language was not clear to Saudi Arabian students According to the Ministry of Education website, although there has been several environmental and institutional approaches such as making minimum level of TOPIK 3 mandatory for Korean university application (2010), executing certification system for international students (2011), setting validation period for grade (2 years from the announcement, 2012), etc., universities have different understanding with application of such policies ranging from application support and curriculum degree management

to graduation requirements Such inconsistent enactment of policies caused students to lack absolute need to learn Korean language Second, students extremely lacked the basic information and preparation necessary for accommodating Korean culture and learning Korean language There are some cases when students come to South Korea attracted by Hallyu (the Korean wave) Yet, South Korea is usually the latter alternative for Saudi Arabian

1) Indicates the number of students in the case of multi-national regular course

2) Indicates the case of supplementary class composed of Saudi students only ETC stands for number of schools who have not replied.

3) Other answers included “more than 3 times” by one university, and “once every month”

by one university

4) Cultural Experience Examples: Korean food making, Korean traditional village, Nanta performance, Gyeongju tour, snow-sliding, culture festival, Seoul forest, Duksoo palace, Andong Hahoe Village, Visiting historical heritage sites

5) Total number of answer is more than 17 due to multiple answers Other opinions included vowel/consonant learning and reinforcement needed in all aspects of language 6) Total number of answer is more than 17 due to multiple answers Other opinions included halal food problems and vulnerability to diseases.

students after failing to go study-abroad in English-speaking countries Besides, high school or university academic achievement and language skills needed for admission in Korean universities are not competitive Therefore, there are many cases in which Saudi Arabian students simply choose to come

to South Korea with insufficient knowledge about South Korea’s culture and language In terms of linguistic view, Korean and Arabic language is significantly different in the overall aspects of formation, sound, and language structure/system The writing direction and grammatical sentence order are completely opposite (Korean sentence is in the order of subject+object+verb, while Arabic language uses verb+subject+object as basic sentence order) Unfortunately, Saudi Arabian students, in many cases, start learning Korean language without enough understanding of such fundamental difference, which obviously slows down and aggravates their learning of the language (Yoon

& etc, 2014) It is no wonder that they fall behind those students from similar cultural backgrounds to that of South Korea Third, Saudi Arabian students have quite a different standard and experience in terms of learning attitude Saudi Arabian students do not seem to be used to the Korean education environment which requires diligence and high competitiveness, which leads

to depreciation of Saudi students’ attitude in attendance and assignment performance

It is difficult to conclude that such specific characteristics of Saudi Arabian students which hinder their learning of Korean language are the only cause

of the problem Students’ low Korean language achievement is also attributed

to the lack of understanding and teaching methodology applied by Korean language teachers when teaching Saudi students (Cho & Yoon, 2013) When learning Korean language, not as a child but at an adult stage, understanding

of grammar becomes prioritized In order for Saudi students to be able to

properly learn and understand Korean language grammar, it is important that the teachers themselves become aware of the cultural and linguistic background from which Saudi students arrived Moreover, the students’ mother tongue can bring significant modifications in regard to methodology of teaching the target language For example, in the case of Saudi Arabian students, they tend to struggle relatively more on the Korean writing section, and this attributes to their Arabic language usage and acquiring process where its education is focused more on speaking Taking into consideration the fact that such native language background plays a pivotal role in foreign language learning, it becomes important that development of textbooks customized for each different background should be necessary Unfortunately, the reality of such mutual understanding between Korean language learning capacity and foreign Arab students’ cultural and linguistic background is not materialized Korean dictionaries, grammar textbooks, or any study supplementary for Arab learners are quite limited

4 Methods to Reform Korean Language Education Program for Saudi Arabian Students

4-1 Outline

The suggested methods to modify language acquisition for Saudi Arabian students were based on the synthesis of survey mentioned in Part 3, problems raised by universities, diverse opinion and suggestions of Korean language teachers, Saudi students’ opinion, and the input of academic supervisors at the office of Saudi cultural mission These suggestions of reform focused more than anything on the “student management,” taking into consideration Saudi

Arabian students’ background and characteristics Moreover, it took a broad approach into supporting Korean language education through diverse cultural and educational programs Since it was virtually difficult to provide special curriculum, textbooks, and specialized teachers just for Saudi Arabian students, the reform managed to seek ways to enhance academic achievement of Saudi Arabian students within the boundary of respective university’s self-developed and operated Korean language course To be more specific, reform included: 1) customized supplementary class 2) active student management support, 3) systemized management structure 4) provision of diverse cultural and educational exchange platform The adjustment of Korean language education system in regard to Saudi students has been devised upon these four measures The cooperation from universities affiliated Korean language schools was an absolutely crucial element of success The reform initially started with trial application on four universities since September 2013, gradually spreading out its success into many other universities

4-2 Education Reform Program Details

Few universities affiliated language schools providing Korean language courses to Saudi Arabian students were already running afternoon supplementary classes (2 hours a day, 3 times a week) as a complementary

to their regular classes Some of those schools were running the supplementary class in multi-national platform, some were only for Saudi Arabian students However, most schools were only operating regular class hours Regular class hours were not enough for Saudi Arabian students to learn efficiently, taking

into account not only the degree of difference in Arabic and Korean language itself, but also the difference in learning attitude Saudi Arabian students required more absolute hours of studies compared with students from other cultural backgrounds Accordingly, the new reform program suggested that schools run 7 hours of class schedule: 4 hours of regular class in the morning (multi-national) and 3 hours of supplementary class in the afternoon Moreover, small class size of 3~4 students (only Saudi) was formed so that the students can be allocated more time to be able to fully understand class materials depending on their individual speed of learning Supplementary classes also created time for students to individually seek teacher’s help about anything they could not understand during the regular class hours Furthermore, one specific teacher in charge was assigned to each afternoon class in order to properly manage the student’s academic performances

The reform maintained 10-week course per semester, but utilized 2 weeks out of the 3 weeks of vacation falling between the semesters For those students who have failed a semester, these two weeks gave them time to review what they learned so that they can take a make-up exam at the start

of the next semester In the meantime, for those who have passed, those two weeks were utilized to provide the students with a pre-view of the next level Accordingly, education curriculum which used to be 40 weeks a year lengthened to 48 weeks in total Such supplementary class suggestion was first enacted in 4 universities (Kookmin University, Kyunghee University, Ulsan University, Korea Polytechnic University) as a trial, starting from September

2013 fall semester By 2014 spring semester, total of 11 universities were running the program

② Active Student Management Support

As in Figure 4, attendance and learning attitude of Saudi Arabian students were always negatively perceived As a result of collecting opinions through

a survey, universities commonly appealed their biggest difficulties in student management, seeking the support of Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission The cultural mission devised a system of dual management through connected cooperation with the universities in terms of Saudi Arabian students’ learning and overall life in South Korea First, Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission received attendance records of students from each schools over strict policies Moreover, student evaluation sheet and consultation records related to students’ grade report and school life were shared with universities, creating

an individual student profile Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission also held regular student meetings per semester in each region of South Korea, so that cultural mission academic advisors not only had a precise view on students’ actual needs and requirements, but also prepared a platform of direct communication with universities Through such method, universities, students, and the Cultural Mission formed a systematic combined effort for active collaboration towards common agreed upon objectives

In order to help minimize difficulties with respect to learning and living during the students’ first stage of settling in South Korea, Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission provided school visiting services to students with necessary documents needed for study-abroad They also provided students with orientation contents on “Things to Keep in Mind when Living In South Korea.”