ASU students participated in youth forum in Korea

21 August 2017 Department of Educational and Extracurricular Work
Galina Gryanikova, who studies at the Faculty of History, took part in Northeast Asia Youth Leaders Forum 2017 on the following theme “Youth, Lead the World with Emotional Intelligence and a Convergent Mindset!”. The event took place on 6–12 August at Busan University of Foreign Studies located in Busan, South Korea.

The forum was organized by Association of North East Asia Regional Governments in order to provide young people with an opportunity to become responsible leaders, broaden their horizons and views on North East Asia, participate in discussions and exchanges that encourage development of North East Asia.

87 young people participated in the international forum: 23 from China, 2 from Japan, 21 from Korea, 24 from Mongolia, and 17 from Russia. Only 2 representatives of Altai Krai managed to qualify for the event. One of them was student of Altai State University.

Requirements raised by forum organizers were upper-intermediate level of English, university degree, and significant achievements in scientific, social, and cultural areas.

Opening ceremony started with welcoming speeches by Hong Seong-hwa, ambassador for international relations of Busan, Lee Jeongbae, Vice-Rector at Busan University of Foreign Studies, and Hong Jong-kyoung, Secretary General at Association of North East Asia Regional Governments, while Professor at School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Central South University (Chin) Xu Hai delivered a lecture about the harm of formaldehydes.

Practical part of the forum was divided into 10 topic-related sections. Galina took an active part in discussion on positive reformations in the world at section on culture and importance of overcoming cultural barriers. Sang-jin Park, Professor of the Department of Italian Language and Comparative Literature, supervised the work of the section. On the last day of forum participants presented a project, which they created together.

“The forum was mostly oriented at team discussion of specific problems. I think that the fact that my team was multinational helped us gain an insight into the issue and look at the problem of cultural barriers from different angles. As it turned out, China, Russia, Korea, Japan and Mongolia have similar youth problems in terms of national identity. However, each country has its own way to solve them,” Galina said. “The main goal of discussion was to find common ground between our countries, traditions, and habits. Special attention was paid to the influence of globalization on the process of cultural rapprochement.”

Besides practical part, the guests were also involved in diverse cultural program. First of all, they visited Busan Tower, a 118 m high tower at Yondustan Park. Then they proceeded to the main shopping mall of Busan – Lotte Department Store. At the end of the day they had dinner in traditional Korean restaurant. During next excursion they visited Nurimaru APAC House and Naru Park and spent several hours at Haeundae Beach.

“This forum provided us with an excellent opportunity to broaden the horizons, practice English, acquire new knowledge from foreign professors, learn more about young people from other countries, their interests and goals, find new friends from different parts of the world, and assure ourselves that if you keep up to ethical norms and respect traditions, your nationality and confession is not important.”

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