Pukyong National University Develops First Multilingual Portal System for International Student Support Among National Universities

Pukyong National University is the first national university to develop a multilingual portal system in English, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Japanese, which will be launched on September 1.

Until now, Pukyong National University has provided its portal system services in Korean, but to make it more convenient for international students studying at Pukyong, the university has newly established systems in four languages: English, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Japanese.

The university portal system is similar to commercial portal sites that offer comprehensive services such as email and search; it integrates various university services like course registration, academic information, webmail, and electronic library into one platform.

Pukyong National University provides external information through its general homepage, while academic-related services linked to individual students' academic information are offered through the portal system, resulting in high utilization by students.

With the establishment of the multilingual portal system, it is expected that the 1,565 international students from 68 countries currently enrolled at Pukyong National University (as of April 2023) will be able to conveniently access various campus information and services such as announcements, academic calendars, class schedules, and book loan information.

Main screen and notice screen images of the multilingual portal system by language.

Since the portal system is linked with multiple services, when accessing other services that are not built in multiple languages through the portal, an automatic translation service is integrated to translate content into the user’s language, maximizing accessibility and convenience.

To prevent mistranslations during automatic translation, key services and user information apply a separately constructed database to enhance reliability, and privacy protection and information security have been strengthened through two-factor authentication and upgraded encryption methods.

Jumun Gap, Director of the Information and Computer Center at Pukyong National University, stated, “We plan to continue expanding multilingual services not only to the portal system but also to academic administrative information systems, and to provide customized services needed by more international students from countries such as Myanmar and Indonesia.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.