＜Voices from International Students 3＞ A University with Many Diverse Minds

Park Eun Kyung (Korea)
The Department of Social Welfare
The School of Humanities and Social Sciences

There is a class called “koto okoshi (action taking)” in my department. What we do is find individuals at our university in need of help, listen to them to identify their problems, and discuss how we can help to solve those problems. We also put our ideas into action and later verify how our advice has worked for the individuals to solve their problems.

Students are divided into groups to figure out who needs help and what sort of help they might need. One day, I told my classmates that I had a problem reading some professors’ names on their laboratory doors. I thought other international students must have the same problem, but Japanese students said they had never thought about it.

I learned there were a variety of ways to see and perceive one thing through this “koto okoshi” class. I gained understanding and acceptance of the different views and perspectives of others. It was quite an experience for me.

A campus with a variety of different people, cultures and ideas, where students and faculty respect one another…that’s the kind of university I hope for. The more diverse minds there are at OPU, the more fulfilled and meaningful our campus lives can be.