[Meet the President] Ewha Womans University focuses on empowering each individual

In a country that ranked 99th on this year’s Global Gender Gap Index rankings released by the World Economic Forum, Ewha Womans University President Kim Eun-mee still sees much work to be done by women’s universities. [PARK SANG-MOON]

It’s the 21st century — why attend a women’s university?
 
It all stems from the split second of hesitation many women experience every day, says Kim Eun-mee, president of Ewha Womans University.
 
The hesitation of wondering whether something’s a “man’s job.” The hesitation after being granted an opportunity yet second-guessing one’s own potential and strength merely because they are a woman.
 
At Ewha, that hesitation is shattered, Kim stressed.
 
“I was at an international conference held on our campus this morning,” Kim recalled during a recent interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily, “and I saw our female students running around, putting the podium on the stage, bringing chairs and lifting everything without even thinking, ‘Is this something that my male counterpart should be doing for me?’”
 
Through experiences like these, young women learn about responsibility, Kim continued. They learn that they have to cover everything from A to Z on their own and that there’s no such thing as gender roles — or, at least, there shouldn’t be — in school or society.
 
“Students here are able to learn and practice in a gender-neutral environment, which I think is really critical and something that [women] at other co-ed universities are unable to experience.”
 
During the interview, Kim discussed why women’s universities still matter to the world and how international students can benefit from an education at Ewha.
 
The following are excerpts from the interview, edited and condensed for clarity.
 

An aerial view of the campus in Seodaemun District, western Seoul [EWHA WOMANS UNIVERSITY]

The Dior Fall 2022 fashion show held at Ewha Womans University on April 30, a day after the school signed a partnership agreement with the fashion brand offering scholarships, training and mentoring programs to Ewha students [CHOI NA-RANG]

Welch-Ryang Auditorium, a venue for chapel services, which, at the time of its completion in 1956, was the largest concert hall in Asia equipped with 2,800 seats [EWHA WOMANS UNIVERSITY]

A male international student participating in Ewha ’ s International Summer College [EWHA WOMANS UNIVERSITY]

An Ewha student teaching children in Cambodia in 2018 during a volunteer program at Ewha Srang School, which was established by a missionary institute led by Ewha faculty and alumni [EWHA WOMANS UNIVERSITY]

Ewha students at school after Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule in 1945 [EWHA WOMANS UNIVERSITY]

Kim Eun-mee is the 17th president of Ewha Womans University. Her four-year term began in February 2021. She is a professor at the Graduate School of International Studies and director of the Ewha Global Health Institute for Girls and Women.
 
In December 2016, she was appointed by the UN secretary general to serve as one of the 15 Independent Group of Scientists to work on the Global Sustainable Development Report 2019, which was presented to the UN secretary general and heads of UN member states at the UN General Assembly in September 2019. 
 
In 2012, she received the Service Merit Medal for her contributions to the Fourth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan.
 
Kim received her bachelor’s degree in sociology at Ewha and her master’s and Ph.D. in the same field from Brown University.
 

 
Name
Ewha Womans University
 
Type
Private
 
Established
May 31, 1886
 
English slogan
EWHA, THE FUTURE WE CREATE
 
Location
Seodaemun District, western Seoul
 
Campus size
544,927 square meters (134.65 acres)
 
Undergraduate colleges and departments
Colleges: 15
Departments and majors: 75
 
Graduate schools
15
 
Students (2022)
Undergraduates: 18,994
Postgraduates: 6,329
Total: 25,323
 
Academic staff (2022)
1,709
 
Administrative staff (2022)
313
 
Employment rate (2022)
62.3 percent
 
English website
www.ewha.ac.kr/ewhaen
 
Instagram
@ewha.w.univ
 
YouTube
www.youtube.com/ewhauniv
 
International students
 
Number of students (2022)
Undergraduates: 766
Postgraduates: 756
Short-term students (language learning, exchange program, etc.): 631
Total: 2,153
 
By country (2022)
China 45.7 percent
Japan 8 percent
United States 6 percent
Other 40.3 percent (85 countries)
 
Department with the most international students (2022)
Division of Communication and Media
 
Dormitory acceptance rate (2022)
21.3 percent
 
Average tuition of self-funded undergraduate students per semester (2022)
8.69 million won ($6,240)
 
International exchange affairs
Instagram: @ewha.abroad
YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/EwhaAbroad
 
International student affairs
YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/InternationalStudentAffairsTeamEWHA

BY LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]