Ongoing Troubles with PNU BUDDY Program

Pusan National University (PNU) Student A (Dept. of Business Administration, 24) was selected for the PNU BUDDY program and attempted to contact the assigned foreign exchange student, but received no response even after a week. Student A said that they contacted the PNU International about this but were told, “Do not reach out separately, just wait,” expressing their frustration.

The PNU BUDDY program is an initiative by PNU International that pairs Korean students with foreign exchange or visiting students in a 1:1 or 1:2 ratio. It has been operating since the early days of the exchange student program in PNU to help international students adapt to our university. The program offers various benefits, making it highly popular among students. Those who complete more than 15 hours of activities receive a certificate of participation, extracurricular mileage points, and additional points when applying for exchange programs. The recruitment for the Spring 2025 semester took place from January 2nd to 16th, with 157 students applying and 115 being accepted. The results of the matching process were announced on January 23rd.

Buddy activities officially begin after matching results are announced. Selected students must personally reach out to their assigned foreign buddies. However, communication issues are frequent, leading to growing frustration. Student B, who also experienced difficulties contacting their foreign buddy, said, “I kept sending helpful materials via email, but they were only marked as ‘read’ with no response,” leading to frustration. If students are unable to contact their foreign buddy, they cannot complete the required activities for the program, such as providing arrival guidance, assisting with dormitory check-ins, introducing the campus and academic schedule, and helping with course registration.

Additionally, some foreign students cancel their visiting or exchange student applications, leading to the cancellation of buddy activities. Recently, a large number of Moroccan students withdrew their applications, causing their assigned Korean buddies to lose their participation opportunities. Due to these unilateral cancellations, enrolled students lost their expected benefits. Student C (Dept. of Nursing, 24) said, “I planned to complete the buddy activities over three semesters to earn the maximum additional points for an exchange program, but now I’m afraid this will negatively affect my application.” Student A also expressed frustration, said, “It’s unfair that we can't participate in activities due to the other party’s fault despite being already selected through the verification process. I'm angry at their irresponsible attitude of canceling activities when they could have re-matched buddies paired 1:2.”

PNU International, which oversees the buddy program, has yet to find a clear solution. They explained that, unlike Korean students, foreign exchange and visiting students are automatically assigned a buddy without a separate application process, making it difficult to enforce communication. An official stated, “Since compatibility may vary depending on the individual’s personality, we ask students to wait, and if there is no response before the semester starts, we try to rematch them.” They also added, “For students in 1:2 pairings, their other buddy is already active, so we cannot rematch them. The best option is to reassign the buddy of a student who voluntarily withdraws from the program.”

However, PNU International mentioned that measures are being discussed regarding the unilateral cancellations by visiting students. An official stated, “We previously considered excluding visiting students from the buddy matching process entirely.” However, concerns have been raised that if the program is removed, visiting students will lose the opportunity to have a buddy, which may also be unfair.

Reporter Lim Seung-Ha

Translated by Seo Yoo-Jung