Warm greetings from Sogang University in Seoul.

We would like to provide you with updates on the current situation of COVID-19 outbreak in South Korea, and the number of precautionary measures being taken at Sogang University.

1. COVID-19 in South Korea

The Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) raised its COVID-19 alert to the highest level, following the sharp increase in the number of infection cases last week. The CDC in the U.S. also issued enhanced precautions (level 2) for traveling Korea due to sustained community spread.

1) COVID-19 statistics (Korea in the bottom of the table)

* Source: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/, statistics as of 10:00 May 15, 2020 (KST)

2. University-level measures being followed to contain spread of COVID-19

1) The first day of the spring semester has been postponed by 2 weeks, from Mar 2 to Mar 16. Students, during this 2-week break, are advised to stay home and refrain from outside activities.

2) For the first four weeks of the semester (Mar 16-Apr 10), all of the academic courses will be offered online through our Cyber Campus system (http://eclass.sogang.ac.kr/ilos/main/main_form.acl)

3) At the national level, all person arriving from China, Hong Kong, and Macau are subject to active monitoring and self-quarantine. They will be required to download a mobile application in the airport, and using this application they will report their health status to KCDC on a daily basis. At the university level, students coming from above regions (airport transfer included) can only enter Sogang campus after the 14-day self-quarantine procedure is over. Furthermore, these students will be actively monitored by the Office of International Affairs at least once a day from Feb 25, 2020. 16 temporary staff have been hired solely for this purpose.

4) At the university level, full-time Sogang students arriving from China, Hong Kong, and Macau will be quarantined for up to 14 days in a university hostel remotely located in the outskirts of Seoul (Gapyeong in Gyeonggi-do Province). These students will be able to attend classes only after the quarantine period is over.

5) Currently, Sogang University has no plans on further postponing the semester or cancelling the exchange program. However, students must be aware of the alarming state of COVID-19 in Korea. The students need to take precautions in maintaining personal hygiene and high health standards.

6) In case a student on campus is displaying symptoms of COVID-19 (fever, chest pain, dry cough etc.), the students can benefit from the on-campus COVID-19 Screening Center. General costs for hospitalization/medication etc. can be covered by the Korean Government, if the student is confirmed COVID-19 positive.

7) From April 1, 2020, the Korean Government requires all inbound international passengers (regardless of nationality) to take the COVID-19 test in the airport, and then go through self-quarantine up to 14 days. The passengers are required to download the self-quarantine smartphone application and report to the health authority (KCDC) on a daily basis throughout the quarantine period. Passengers who do not have legal address within Korea are obliged to check in at the public quarantine facility. The daily service fee for this facility is around USD 100 per day.

3. Academic matters

1) Due to COVID-19 outbreak, some of the students are experiencing unexpected flight cancellation/postponement and having trouble arriving in Korea as scheduled. The Registrar’s Office will forgive all absences due to flight changes, up to 2 weeks.

2) At Sogang University, we thrive to prevent and contain the spread of COVID-19 on campus. However, if a student is confirmed to be carrying the virus, he/she will be required to be quarantined in a medical treatment facility until full recovery. Furthermore, if multiple cases of COVID-19 rises within campus, Sogang University can be temporarily shut down by the Government in order to go through thorough sterilization. In above cases, it is feasible that a student will not be able to properly finish the semester/acquire academic credits.

3) On Apr 6, 2020 the Registrar's Office has announced that all of the undergraduate courses will be offered online until further notice, making remote learning opportunities possible.

4) Rest of the spring semester, including the final examinations will be offered online. Some students enrolling is academic courses in the School of Engineering and the School of Natural Science may be required to take examinations "off-line", due to the nature of lab experimenting.

5) Natural Science/Engineering students who are currently taking online courses abroad, do not need to participate in the face-to-face exams outlined in 4).

6) We will likely switch back to "off-line" learning with students and faculty members returning to campus from fall 2020. However the guidelines provided by the Government (and Seoul city), KCDC, Ministry of Education is being updated on a daily basis making it very difficult for universities to plan ahead and make clear announcements on whether we could operate fall 2020 semester.

Sogang University Office of International Affairs