Linton Global College

History

LSGB began in 2005 during an era in which Korean universities prioritized the modernization of university campuses and the development of international studies colleges. Other Korean universities with international colleges include Ehwa Women's University, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Hanyang, Kyung Hee, Korea, Keimyung, and Yonsei Universities. Several of these universities, including Hannam, are members of The Association of Christian Universities and Colleges in Asia. Though all of these programs teach their courses in English, LGC was among the first to do so with an international faculty. Additionally, LGC is the only of these colleges to offer a BA degree in Communication studies.

Mission

Though LSGB operates as a language immersion program, its primary function is not to teach English. To encourage academic competence, international awareness, and engaged citizenship among its graduates, LSGB melds practice with theory in the fields of communication and business with the English language as the medium. With a focus on practical studies, students are expected to complete their degrees along with internships, academic conferences, volunteer service hours, and study abroad during their undergraduate years. Students complete internships and projects with national and international bodies, including K-Water, the International Atomic Energy Agency and IMF21 conferences, G20 2010 summit in Seoul, and The Philippines and US Embassies in Korea. Students have additionally participated in service-learning projects in Japan, Cambodia, The Philippines, Uganda, Kenya, and Kazakhstan.

For Korean students the college operates as a study-abroad experience facilitated through English immersion inside the classroom and out. There is also an English-only policy for living quarters. In this regard, Korean students of the program are challenged intellectually and socially. They acquire and improve linguistic abilities quickly and are held to high standards. International students in the program are immersed within Korean culture, and therefore have a double-pronged advantage of increasing their English faculties while acquiring Korean language and cultural understanding.

Academics

Academics in LSGB draw from an interdisciplinary curriculum leading to a Bachelor of Arts degree. Employing both traditional and critical approaches, the school draws its resources from the social sciences, humanities and fine arts. The college currently offers one BA degree with two tracks: (i) Media & Culture and (ii) Global Business. Students select from either of these tracks or double-major throughout their tenure in the school. The Media and Culture curriculum emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach to communication studies focusing on journalism, media, broadcasting, international relations, diplomacy, and cultural studies. Global Business curriculum integrates concepts and skills from marketing, management, international trade, and technology innovation.

All classes are offered in English with high standards of academic excellence modeled after American liberal arts universities.

The faculty teach knowledge of organizations, systems thinking, world culture theory, dependency theory, conflict analysis frameworks, models of advanced problem-solving, and parliamentary procedure. Students explore underlying values of the individual and of society with a focus on faith and spirituality, community development, human rights, anti-racism, feminism, and sustainability. These values are translated into leadership traits, such as compassionate care, cooperative learning, emphatic listening, and servant leadership, and this in turn is manifest in the skills of textual analysis, debate and dialogue, conflict management, interpersonal communication, broadcasting and ethical journalism. LSGB graduates are versed in a variety of research methods, including qualitative assessment (e.g., storytelling/life-stories, ethnography, observations, interviews, artistic performance) and quantitative measurements (e.g., statistical surveys and market research).

Students also have the opportunity to study abroad at Cambridge University during their studies in the college.

Students

There are approximately 200 undergraduate students enrolled in the school. Among these students, each semester LSGB hosts nearly 10 study abroad students from its partnership universities, including Concordia University Irvine, Western Carolina University, Green Mountain University, Arkansas State University, Lynchburg College, Universidad de Costa Rica, University of Calcutta, and De La Salle University, among others. The QS Top Universities 2011 Asian Rankings listed Hannam as the 169th best university in Asia for attracting international students to study on campus. Additionally, LSGB students study abroad typically in their third year at one of Hannam University's partner schools. In 2010, Hannam University was ranked 47th in Asia for sending students to study abroad.

Students participate in a number of clubs in the college, including Frontier Club (a service-learning experience), S.A.L.T. (focusing on Christian missions and service), English Bible Study, the Ecstasy Basketball Team, Hookies Baseball Team, LGC Leaders soccer team, and Job Research Club. Additionally, there are informal research and practice groups in Broadcasting, Events Management, Journalism (via the Global Horizons departmental newsletter) and Peace and Diplomacy Studies.

Faculty and Administration

Hannam University has been at the forefront of global education in Korea since its founding in 1956. The first three presidents of the university were from the United States, including Dr. William A. Linton, from whom the college borrows its name. Hannam University is also ranked 120th among Asian universities for its high number of foreign faculty (as a percentage of total faculty). The largest number of these faculty are housed in LGC, which began its international programs at Hannam in 2005. It was thus one of the first colleges to offer such an international English-immersion 4-year degree program at the undergraduate level, and the first to do so with an international faculty. All classes are taught in English by English-speaking Korean professors and international faculty from the United States, Britain, Canada, Iran, and the Philippines, among other nations.

Hannam University is also well-respected for its faculty's contribution to academics and the knowledge economy. The faculty of Hannam are cited often in peer-reviewed journals by their peers. According to QS Top Universities, Hannam faculty are among the top 100 universities in Asia for knowledge production, as measured by the number of scholarly citations in academic journals.

Graduates

The school has an 88% employment rate among its graduates. Recent graduates can be found at International Relations offices on university campuses in Korea, in local English schools and institutes, at the National Research Foundation of Korea, in the Korean Armed Forces, and as flight attendants on Korean and Asian Airlines.

Many other graduates have chosen to pursue further education at graduate schools in Korea and abroad, including Korea University, Ehwa Women's University, Hanyang University, Kyung Hee University, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, University of Sydney, University of Sheffield, and the United Nations University for Peace, including its Headquarters in San Jose, Costa Rica, and its Asia-Pacific Centre in Seoul, Korea.