Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) College of Engineering students left the classroom to visit leading overseas universities. The visits aimed to broaden their global perspectives and strengthen practice-oriented engineering education by meeting engineers and distinguished scholars from around the world in person.

The JBNU College of Engineering recently announced on the 3rd that it had operated a 'Glocal Engineering Design' program at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore to enhance students' global engineering capabilities.

The program involved 10 JBNU College of Engineering students and the course instructor Nam Chang-woo, Vice Dean of the College of Engineering (Professor, Department of Organic Materials and Fiber Engineering). Professor Nam and the students participated in a two-week Project-Based Learning (PBL) course with students from NTU's Department of Materials Engineering, developing engineering problem-solving skills focused on real-world issues.

They also experienced a global collaborative environment through team projects with NTU students, and enhanced their communication and on-site responsiveness by presenting projects in English.

In particular, the students attended a lecture by Professor Duncan Haldane, the 2016 Nobel Prize laureate in Physics, gaining first-hand exposure to the research philosophy and scientific thinking of a world-leading scholar.

They also broadened their understanding of the importance and future direction of AI applications in engineering through AI-related lectures delivered by faculty from the University of Oxford and Harvard University.

Han Sang-eon, a student in the Department of Organic Materials and Fiber Engineering who participated in the program, said, “Attending classes with students from leading overseas universities made me feel proud as an engineering student and gave me the goal of becoming a researcher.”

Nam Chang-woo, the professor in charge of the program, said, “Although it was a short period, we were able to confirm that the students showed noticeable growth in terms of engineering thinking and global competencies,”

“We will continue to run more systematic and substantive global education programs,” he said.