The Ministry of Education (MOE) promoted mentoring programs for multicultural and foreign students with HUFS students in order to support their adaptation of school life in Korea.

On Feb. 1, HUFS, the MOE, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, and the Korea Scholarship Foundation signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to support mentoring in mother tongues for foreign students.

The “mother tongue language mentoring” initiative is a project to solve the difficulties of the foreign and multicultural students who are not familiar with Korean language and the teachers who are in charge of their learning and life guidance. It is a program that connects foreign students with other HUFS students as mentors, so that they can receive Korean language and basic lessons in their mother tongue. It also helps their parents to be aware of their children’s school life by translating school newsletters or school life information.

The Korean Scholarship Foundation is planning to test-operate the program this year for foreign students in the Seoul area, and then expand it into a university foreign language course.

Kim In-chul, the president of HUFS, said in a business agreement, “We will build a model for supporting the formation of a ‘mentor-mentee’ program by maximizing the HUFS human resources capable of communicating in 45 different languages.”
Lee Jun-sik, the Deputy Prime Minister of Education, said, “With this business agreement, I will take the lead in helping multicultural students and foreign students develop valuable talents in our society without giving up their dreams in an unfamiliar environment.”