Greeting
The Communication Center aims to develop the speaking skills needed by cultured members of a democratic society.
With pragmatism as its founding ideology, Ajou University has designed the core part of its general education program in connection with major programs while focusing on the integral development of the universal introspection skills that are essential for citizens of a democratic society.
Graduates of Ajou’s General Education are defined as “Dasanian Talent” whose skills in active speaking will serve society well.
To this end, Ajou University adopted the Major Entry System, which is a requirement for freshmen to complete high-level Korean writing, English courses, and Basic Science courses to build the foundation for their academic pursuits. Ajou University’s general education program, which emphasizes literacy as a means of communications in humanities and numeracy as a skill to state natural phenomena, is aligned with the idea of German philosopher Wilhelm von Humboldt, who believed language was a door to seeking truth.
To cultivate communication skills, Ajou University adopted Korean and English writing courses and a Classics course focusing on 100 selected classical works selected by Ajou for all freshmen, while the Online Ajou Debate forum allows all members of the university community to participate in the spirit of democracy.
Education in the Classics is an essential part of life-long education and may be utilized as verified background knowledge in the process of creating new knowledge. Ajou Debate requires a comprehensive set of skills, such as knowledge selection, critical thinking, courtesy, and writing. These abilities form the three pillars for the development of active speaking skills.
As a natural result, the Ajou University Communication Center practices the good writing methodology of Ouyang Xiu, an essayist from China’s Song Dynasty, which consists of reading, writing, and thinking in multitude. Unless people change, the nature of liberal arts education—as a “creation” of educated people—can not change significantly. The Ajou University Communication Center is committed to serving as the foundation for producing cultured members of a democratic society through the creation of new knowledge and the building of character through lectures and teaching methods that aim to develop introspective, active speaking skills.
Director of the Ajou University Communication Center