A Deep Dive into CC: How Do UIC Students Feel About it?

On June 27, 2023, Yonsei University ranked 76th in the QS World University Rankings 2024, making it the first to rank so high among private universities in Asia. With Yonsei University making great strides on the global stage, Underwood International College (UIC) is also attracting more and more talented minds from all over the world, as represented by admission numbers that have been steadily increasing since 2015. One reason behind this boost in attention is Yonsei providing future enrollees with the Common Curriculum program, commonly known as CC. Devised as part of UIC’s mission of a robust liberal arts education, CC offers a variety of UIC-exclusive, seminar-style courses in a variety of disciplines of liberal arts. Of course, these classes are taught by renowned international faculty members hailing from top universities around the world. 

Having completed most of my required CC courses and now preparing for my sixth semester at UIC, I took the opportunity to engage in a conversation with two peers in different stages of their university program. According to the UIC homepage, CC is “the most fundamental part of the UIC undergraduate experience” because it guarantees that all UIC students are equipped with the following skills by the time they graduate: the ability to think creatively and critically, appreciate the complexities of human history and culture, and communicate in a clear and compelling manner. In this article, Nari Yun (PSIR, Class of 20) and Kijoon Yun (CTM/IID, Class of 17) share their insight on how successful CC has been in accomplishing its mission, as well as gauge their academic experience in terms of these metrics.

In terms of creative and critical thinking, both Nari and Kijoon expressed a similarly ambiguous stance. “It depends on the class,” said Nari. “The World History and Modern Literature classes showed me new perspectives. Also, listening to professors giving their own interpretation to different topics was interesting.” However, some classes, like Western Civilization and Eastern Civilization, which are lecture-based courses with more than 200 people, were hardly conducive to such effects according to Nari. “I think it could be different depending on how the professors set the course because in Western Civilization I had a written test, but in Eastern Civilization, I wrote an essay which helped me think critically on specific issues,” Nari added. Kijoon, on the other hand, asserted that no CC class was specially designed to cultivate creative and critical thinking other than the mandatory Critical Reasoning course, which even then was “only focused on the critical thinking aspect, not the creative one.” He then humorously noted that things may have changed because his freshman year was such a long time ago and concluded that some new courses that are specifically designed to train creative thinking skills might have been added to the course catalog.

With respect to human history and culture, both Nari and Kijoon provided positive assessments overall. Nari began by saying, “I think this is something that is achieved by all CC courses, regardless of their subject. Basically, all CC subjects are about human and social sciences.” Kijoon concurred, “Some UIC Seminar lectures introduced me to unfamiliar academic concepts, such as posthumanism and statelessness, which all amplified my understanding of human history and culture.” However, such strengths of CC courses do not necessarily mean that there is no room for improvement. Nari posited that the school was not utilizing its diverse student body to its educational advantage, especially in larger lectures, such as Western Civilization and Eastern Civilization. “Since these are classes that people take regardless of their major, I think students exchanging ideas in these classes on a regular basis would be helpful. Since we have students from everywhere, especially at UIC, people could talk about their different cultural backgrounds related to the topic.”

In terms of the third skill, communicating in a clear and compelling manner, Kijoon responded positively while Nari was ambivalent. Kijoon’s positive review mainly came from his attributing value to the all-English class environment at UIC, which he said has helped his communication skills gradually improve over the years due to the many essays, reports, and presentations he had to write and prepare. “The courses forced me to attain good communication skills to survive” is how he put it. Nari, on the other hand, commented that although certain classes like Freshman Writing Intensive Seminar were directly designed to hone this skill, for others, whether or not a student’s communication skills improved depended on variable factors. “I think a professor’s constructive feedback on a student’s written assignment could improve the chances of achieving this goal,” she concluded. 

As for myself, I have a generally favorable opinion of CC due to its rich variety of subjects in humanities that I was introduced to thanks to certain courses I have taken. In fact, some courses have even led me to develop interests far beyond the classroom. For example, I would never have picked up a book on psychoanalysis, at least not during my college years, if it were not for the CC courses I have taken. I also would not have understood it as well as I did during my first readthrough if it were not for my academic experience at UIC. However, it is also true that not every course has been a positive experience for me, and many of the issues that Nari and Kijoon have pointed out need to be addressed with pressing urgency. Moving forward, examining such issues that are communicated by students and taking measures to make improvements seem necessary. After all, UIC has made the promise of a global liberal arts education, and although I believe it is already capable of producing one, it should never become complacent.