With COVID-19 seemingly getting under control, regulations on overseas travel are being eased. Accordingly, in the summer of 2022, the Dosimein program for students of the University of Seoul (UOS) College of Urban Science was also resumed.

         Dosimein is an abbreviation for “the cultivation of Seoul’s urban future human resources” program. Since 2019, UOS International Center for Urban Innovation has been operating this innovative education program that provides experience and learning opportunities for large overseas cities, by dispatching students from UOS’s urban majors to Seoul's friendship towns. The selected students stay there for a month during the summer or winter vacation and explore the city thoroughly. They study their topics in great depth through field trips and interviews with city officials.

         So far, 12 cities have been visited through this program. The first term students visited six cities - London, Warsaw, Tallinn, Montreal, Athens, and Ulaanbaatar - during the summer of 2019, and the second term students visited six cities - Panama City, San Francisco, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, Milano, and New South Wales - during the winter in 2019.

         The third-term students were dispatched to Amsterdam and Singapore during the summer vacation this year. Through document evaluation and interviews, six teams were selected. Students found a professor who will be in charge of the team within a week after the final pass. Education about Seoul City’s information on urban planning and transportation was provided to the teams that passed the final examination. Based on this education, the interview PPT was supplemented, and the subject was clarified.

         The UOS Times interviewed a student who had previously participated in the program to find out the detailed process. Cho Ye-won (Dept. of Geoinformatics, ’20) was dispatched to Amsterdam during the summer vacation this year. The research topic of her team was “Presentation of the vision of sustainability of the city through the sustainable city and a study on the application plan of Seoul.” According to her comments, her team visited the institution and conducted interviews, and they toured the city including museums and art galleries. She first visited the Dutch Museum of Culture with a professor on the team. At the request of the professor in charge of her team, her team returned to the accommodation at around 9 o'clock every day, organized the budget, and specified the schedule for the next day.

         She said that she learned a lot from the program by looking at Amsterdam with her eyes, walking on her feet, and listening to it with her ears. “After experiencing the city for a month based on one topic I wanted to know more about, I was able to explore the topic in depth,” she added. This program would also be operated during winter vacation this year. She highly recommended the program, saying “This is a must-participate program for urban major students, with an opportunity to explore various cities in other countries, and think about making Seoul a better city.”