Home > National > K-campus

Foreign students bring unique edge to university extracurricular programs

Published: 19 Aug. 2025, 14:38 Updated: 19 Aug. 2025, 20:08

LEE TAE-HEE
[email protected]

Ta Thi Thanh Nga talks with other students part of the Charlotte EcoDreamers program. [TA THI THANH NGA]

Extracurricular activities can help university students get experience and build their careers, but what if you are one of the few, or even the only international student among a group of Korean students?

While it can be intimidating, more international students have been participating in extracurricular activities to learn new things and get help to land a job.

Ta Thi Thanh Nga, a Vietnamese student at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies majoring in public administration and Vietnamese language, was the only foreigner among the 100 students in the 40th batch of the Shinhan Bank Student Ambassador program, which ran from February to June 2024.

The program was first started by Shinhan Bank in 2004 and has since been biannually selecting a group of university students to create content and plan offline activities that promote the company. All university students are welcome to apply, except those in the second semester of their senior year or students part of other bank-run support programs.

"I was initially hesitant to apply to extracurricular activities that international students have never participated in before, but I confidently shared my motivation and goals in the application and interview," said Ta.

"I was quite surprised and felt a sense of pressure [after knowing I was the only international student], but I tried hard to represent my country, Vietnam and other international students."

Ta also participated in the Charlotte EcoDreamers program run by Lotte Department Store, which invited students to promote the company's green initiatives. She was also part of programs like the G50 K-Academy and Outlookie, which were open exclusively to international students.

Ta Thi Thanh Nga films content while part of the Shinhan Bank Student Ambassadors program [TA THI THANH NGA]

Although she was the only foreigner in the Shinhan Bank Student Ambassador program, her background was also something that became her strength.

During a self-introduction video submitted when applying for the program, Ta talked about how having an international student as part of the program can be positive for the bank's global brand image. She also explained the advantages Shinhan Bank has from an international student's perspective, and the ways that the bank and herself can grow through the program.

"When our team was planning to create content about foreigners, I shared inconveniences or difficulties of living in Korea from a foreigner's perspective, like how the banking system felt very complicated or daily expressions that couldn't be looked up on dictionaries," said Ta. "My teammates empathized with my experiences, and this naturally led to ideas that helped us when creating content."

Ta isn't the only one who found that being an international student was a plus.

For Aono Yumeka, a Konkuk University student majoring in media communication, her bilingual ability as a Japanese student made her stand out when applying for the fifth batch of the Incheon International Airport SNS Supporters program.

"One of my strengths was that I can comfortably use Japanese and Korean, and I think being able to create content in both languages became my asset since Incheon International Airport has a lot of foreign visitors," said Aono.

Extracurricular activities in Korea

Aono Yumeka poses for a photo during the launching ceremony of the Incheon International Airport SNS Supporters program. [AONO YUMEKA]

Extracurricular activities, referred as daeoehwaldong, tend to be run by companies and government organizations to promote their business, services or products.

While some may first think of student clubs or volunteer work when seeing the term "extracurricular activities," the activities in Korea mostly involve university students being selected to create online content or assist in promotional activities through programs that last for around six months.

"One similarity is that students in both [Korea and Vietnam] actively participate in these activities to strengthen their resumes for future job opportunities, but there are some differences," said Huyen Trang Pham, a Sogang University student majoring in media and entertainment and art and technology.

"In Korea, most extracurricular programs are organized by companies, while in Vietnam, students often create their own projects and recruit members independently. Also, in Korea, many company-led programs provide activity fees or small compensation, whereas in Vietnam, these activities are usually unpaid."

Pham is another student that has actively participated in extracurricular activities. She was part of the fourth batch of the Campus Woori program, open to both Korean and international students. Kakaostyle Kitto Supporters and the NIIED Study in Korea Supporters program, open to international students only, are another set of programs she's been part of.

During the Campus Woori program, one of the projects her group worked on was the so-called Campus Attack, setting up a booth at Sogang University to introduce the bank's mascots to students passing by and finding what financial concerns they have.

"What I learned from this experience is the power of teamwork — especially when each member leverages their own strengths to complement one another," said Pham. "As a foreign student, I focused on promoting the booth to other international students and guiding them to participate, while my Korean teammates focused on engaging with Korean students."

"Thanks to this diversity in our approach, we attracted over 200 visitors to our booth and ended up winning the best team award for that task."

Huyen Trang Pham poses for a photo after getting chosen as one of the outstanding participants of the month for the Campus Woori program. [HUYEN TRANG PHAM]

Like Pham, students sometimes host events to meet people they can promote their cause to.

When Ta participated in the Charlotte EcoDreamers program, her team also planned an in-person event to promote Lotte Department Store's ESG initiatives at a cafe in the Sungshin Women's University area in Seongbuk District, central Seoul.

A booth with pamphlets, printed with soy ink on recycled paper, explaining eco-friendly campaigns run by the department store was set up at the cafe for the event that ran for two days in August last year. Cafe visitors could also get free refills of detergent or fabric softener if they brought their own reusable bottles.

"We explained the purpose of our project and persuaded several cafe owners, and were able to find one cafe to host the event with," said Ta. "We encouraged cafe visitors to participate in various eco-friendly activities, such as decreasing plastic waste and using more reusable containers."

"The customers had a positive response, and it was very fulfilling to see the event carried out successfully after staying up all night to decorate the cafe and prepare."

The RE:FILL cafe event that Ta Thi Thanh Nga's team ran during the Charlotte EcoDreamers program. [TA THI THANH NGA]

Creating online content is also another focus.

When Aono was participating in Incheon International Airport's program, her team decided to make a video introducing restaurants at the airport.

Leaning into the theme of Netflix's "Culinary Class Wars" (2024), her team created a video comparing affordable and premium restaurants at the airport and garnered over 36,000 views on YouTube.

Casual short-form videos about different types of travelers and things not to do at Incheon International Airport are some of the other content her team has created.

Pham and her team also created various videos during the Campus Woori program, with a video series introducing financial hassles international students face and how to solve them using Woori Bank's services.

"For the task, I drew inspiration directly from my own experiences as an international student," said Pham. "The content we created was based on the things I wish someone had explained to me when I first came to Korea."

What do students get?

While students help companies promote their business or initiatives, companies also arrange opportunities to help students gain something valuable.

Many offer special lectures, mentoring, events that students can attend and the company's products as gifts. Awards or prize money are often given to those demonstrating outstanding performance.

For the Incheon International Airport SNS Supporters program, students were offered lectures on content marketing and mentoring from program alumni. A recruitment information session about positions at the Incheon International Airport Corporation was also held just for the students.

The recruitment information session hosted for students part of the Incheon International Airport SNS Supporters Program [AONO YUMEKA]

The Charlotte EcoDreamers program paired each team with a mentor from Lotte Department Store, offering feedback on students' work and career advice.

"We were able to receive a lot of practical advice on how to develop our ideas in the early stages," said Ta. "The mentor also helped us to set the target of the projects we were planning, and we learned on-the-job skills and how people communicate within companies."

The extracurricular activities are even opportunities for students to travel abroad for free.

Charlotte EcoDreamers offered a three-night trip to Hanoi to the team that demonstrated the most outstanding performance, visiting the city's Lotte Mall and other tourist attractions. The Shinhan Bank Student Ambassador program also invited an outstanding team on a two-night trip to Tokyo, and the Campus Woori program's most outstanding team was given the opportunity to visit the bank's Tokyo branch.

Practical benefits are also offered, such as Campus Woori's Korean participants getting preferential treatment when later applying for Woori Bank jobs and international students being given preferential treatment when applying for Woori Bank internships at Southeast Asian branches.

The Anua Global Supporters program, which Aono was also part of, selects outstanding participants and offers extra points if they later apply to employment-linked internships at The Founders, the company behind the Anua brand.

Experience gained during the extracurricular activities helps students with internships or jobs they may apply for in the future.

Pham is currently working as a global business development intern for Metainnotech, a startup offering inter-floor noise reduction technology.

"During the Campus Woori program, I worked closely with Korean students for four months, meeting offline once a week," said Pham. "This long-term group work helped me get used to collaborating with Koreans and understand their working style."

"So, when I later joined Metainnotech, a company with only Korean staff, I didn’t feel out of place. Thanks to the experience I gained from Campus Woori, I was able to adapt quickly to the work environment and communicate smoothly with my team."

Getting chosen for the program

While extracurricular activities are a way for students to try real-life projects, many programs are very competitive to get into.

The Shinhan Bank Student Ambassador program saw around 2,800 applicants for its 40th batch, while only having 100 spots. The Campus Woori program's fourth edition had a competition ratio of 23 to 1.

Huyen Trang Pham poses for a photo with her Campus Woori team members. [HUYEN TRANG PHAM]

Having knowledge of social media and content creation is one of the areas that help students stand out.

"I run a personal TikTok channel with over 1,000 followers, so I was already familiar with making engaging content," said Pham. "I’m fluent in Vietnamese, English and Korean as an international student, and this allowed me to create content that could reach a more diverse audience."

While most activities require students to just submit a written self-introduction and go through interviews, the popular ones ask for self-introduction videos or have applicants do an assignment to showcase their skills.

The Incheon International Airport program requires applicants to create a video from given topics, and Aono chose to create one on the topic of tips to navigate the airport.

She gave her video a slight twist, creating one that introduced tips specifically for foreign tourists — including information about the City Airport Terminal, the Smart Pass that allows visitors to go through boarding gates quickly through facial recognition and the airport's spa, Spa On Air.

"We had to create a short-form video to submit with our application, and me being familiar with social media and video editing using tools like Premier Pro helped a lot," said Aono. "I really want to tell other international students that wish to apply for the program to develop their video creation skills. Having experience with university team projects is also a plus because the program assigns tasks you do in teams, and requires teamwork and abilities to communicate in Korean."

When applying to the Anua Global Supporters, Aono also submitted a portfolio with short-form videos she had created for her social media and during university classes, which also helped.

"I included details about past collaborations with cosmetics brands, how many views the posts got and the quality of my content to showcase the results I could achieve as an Anua supporter," said Aono. "I think that simply having the desire to promote the brand you are applying to be a supporters of is not enough, and presenting examples of content you created and the social media metrics is the best way to increase your chances of being selected."

BY LEE TAE-HEE [[email protected]]