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At the ceremony, HGU received the grand prize of educational donations by recognizing various educational donation activities during the prize conferring ceremony.
-From its foundation, HGU had mandatory social activity courses. 1,800 students a year participated.
-It is expected that it will be the educational donation hub for regional volunteer activities as well as for major volunteer activities in foreign places.
December 15, 2015, Handong Global University received ‘the grand prize’ in recognition of the various educational donation activities that were done during the year.
This event aimed to enhance social recognition for social donations. This would revitalize participation due to the prizes from the Ministry of Education to enterprises, public organizations, universities, and individuals who greatly provided social activities since 2012.
Since its foundation in 1995, HGU not only focused on nurturing excellent human resources but also focused on the importance and influence of educational donations using the motto ‘Let’s share what we have learned’. HGU actively encourages educational donation activities so that students will nurture their academic competency while contributing to local social activities.
Handong Global University has been operating the social volunteer work as part of the liberal arts mandatory courses for graduation. Using various channels and methods, HGU has been contributing to regional development. As of 2014, there are 140 social volunteer organizations and programs. 1800 people have participated in these social volunteer courses. Among them, 93 institutions and 643 people are linked with the social donation sector. This ripple effect is enormous.
The ‘Liberal Arts Reading School’ is a program to teach various approaches to books beyond conventional reading for elementary, middle, and high school students in Pohang. Students participate in discussion to process the books! The goal of the program is to have students read books from various perspectives rather than just reading lots of books. Through in-depth reading, students talk, discuss, and gain wisdom from the authors.
The ‘Loving marathon’ has become an annual event. The program started in 2008 to link the disabled in Pohang city to others through sports. The goal was to change the perspectives of both the disabled and non-disabled. At the Loving Marathon, the physically challenged are paired with another person who assists them. The physically challenged have less opportunities to enjoy being outside. Through exercise, they can breathe fresh air, feel revitalized and have comfort both physically and spiritually.
Another group, ‘Handong ACCESS Major Notice Group’ is providing future career and vision development programs for high schoolers. The program provides students with university information and career information. High school students are enabled to design and prepare for their future careers.
Besides these programs, Handong donates various educational programs through the ‘team system’. 100 teams are formed with one professor and 35 students per team for ‘Community Leadership Training.’ Last year, 164 children were benefited through seven teams’ various educational donation programs. Also agreements for educational donations were made with fifty institutions such as Jukjeon Elementary School and Choruk Children’s Center.
Last year, ‘Meeting Camp’ and ‘Science Camp’ were held for the marginalized. The marginalized have limited experiences and rarely have in-depth studies. Through HGU’s educational donation program, students participated in high level experiences and gaining learning skills with collaboration.
Handong Global University is actively supporting educational donation projects through the Global Engagement & Mobilization Project (GEM). GEM is a program to resolve international social problems utilizing academic knowledge. From 2010, for five years, 32 projects were promoted in developing countries such as Thailand, Peru, and India. The projects were: the ‘Water Purification Project’, the ‘Mental Health Recovery Project for Orphanages,’ and ‘System Development and Dissemination of Remote Educational Systems for Developing Countries Project.’
Handong Global University was designated as a leading university for the ACE Project in 2016. Over the next four years, 1.3 billion won (or $1.3 million) will be provided per year for a total of 5.2 billion won ($5.2 million). Through the ACE Project the Handong Human Character Educational Center was developed to increase students’ social volunteer work. This Center has systematized and developed social service projects. Through educational donation activities, character development courses and the human character program an evaluation model will be established.
In addition, Handong Global University hosts the ‘Gyungsang Educational Donations Regional Center.’ HGU was designated as the leading institution by the Ministry of Education and The Korea Foundation for the Advancement of Science and Creativity. The Center finds blind spots where the marginalized have been overlooked in the field of education. The Center receives more support for these young people.
President Soon-heung Chang said, “In the future, various programs will be prepared and developed by the educational donation program that match the regional areas. New programs will be operated and developed.”
