The Post-Vaccine Campus Life

The outbreak of COVID-19 has caused a hiatus in various aspects of our lives. Routines that were deemed normal merely two years ago — visiting a pub with friends, going to school and workplace without a twinge of fear or even being able to go, and not having to cover your face with a mask — were all perceived as a distant reality. That is, until the invention of COVID-19 vaccines was announced to the world. Although Korea has been relatively slow to distribute vaccines, approximately 78% of the population has been double-vaccinated. As a result, the government loosened its restrictions on social distancing and launched the “With Corona” phase in its COVID policies. The implications of the current societal changes have been grand for Korean universities — especially Yonsei University.

At the beginning of the second semester, Yonsei announced that its policy would consist of blended learning: a mix of online and in-person classes. As the “With Corona” phase began, Yonsei allowed in-person classes for courses with less than 30 students or lab courses. School clubs were also able to conduct their activities in person — in groups of less than 10. The Songdo campus also reopened for freshmen. First-year students expressed their excitement and relief at being able to meet their peers.

The changes in university policy have also impacted students’ residential life. While some students, such as freshmen residing in the Songdo dormitories, enjoyed returning to campus and living with peers, others encountered difficulty house-hunting. Many students were under pressure to look for housing in the middle of the semester, a hassle considering the excessive housing prices in Sinchon.

Debate persists amongst students on whether the policy changes were the right choice. A large portion argued that the halt in campus experience had been long enough — vaccine distributions and the change in governmental regulations were an opportunity to return to in-person classes. However, others voiced concern for vaccine breakthrough infections, as over 4,000 people are getting infected daily.

Despite the recovery from the pandemic, there are projections of its impact to last. The technological breakthroughs resulting from social distancing, especially, will remain to shape our daily lives. In October, the President of Yonsei University, Professor Seoung Hwan Suh, disclosed his commitment to developing Yonsei’s online platform, LearnUS, claiming that “only universities with online platforms will be able to thrive in the continuously changing education environment.”[1]

Such a decision reflects recent societal and scientific shifts in Korea. That is, advancing from the traditional view of education, in which there is a cessation in education after people’s twenties, a trend towards “lifelong learning” has emerged. Moreover, recent scientific breakthroughs in ICT have increased anticipation towards its endless possibilities for the education industry.

Professor Seoung believes that investment in online platforms will enable the continuation of innovation in the post-COVID era and will also become a solution for the current university crisis — numerous Korean colleges closing due to the lack of students and funds.

COVID-19 has had a tremendous impact on our university. With vaccine distributions and normalization, there is an expectation that the campus doors will soon reopen. Yonsei will once again be reinvigorated with dynamic learning experiences, interactions between students and professors, opportunities to engage in college activities — but be further complemented with the benefits of online platforms we have discovered on the way.