For Students

If you have a fever and symptoms of respiratory illness, such as a cough, difficulty breathing, or shortness of breath:

• Do not attend classes, work or university events. Avoid contact with others. Stay home except when seeking medical care.
• Wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer if soap and water are not available, and stay well hydrated/drink fluids.
• Cover your cough, and avoid close contact with others.

For more information, please visit the website for https://masonkorea.gmu.edu/corona/if-you-have-symptoms

All study abroad trips sponsored by George Mason have been canceled. Students at George Mason Korea as part of the Global Gateway or study abroad programs have been given the option to remain at Mason Korea for the remainder of the semester, or to return to the US and continue their education from there, in an online format.

Mason Korea recommends against all non-essential domestic or international travel, particularly to areas with high rates of transmission of the virus that causes COVID-19. Students who travel to those areas in Korea will need to self-quarantine for 14 days following and observe whether they develop any symptoms.

Yes, they will be.

Yes, unless you hear otherwise from your instructor.

Mason Korea has moved courses online, but has not changed the start or end dates of the semester.  Assuming by June it is safe to gather in larger groups, graduation will occur as planned.

Currently, we plan on holding face-to-face classes in the summer and the fall, and the registration dates have not changed.

These activities can be handled through the office of academic affairs through email or video chat, rather than coming to campus.  Please contact the Office of Academic Affairs(mkaa@gmu.edu).

MK students who are considering withdrawal from the university should contact the Office of Academic Affairs(mkaa@gmu.edu) and confer with a staff member.

George Mason Korea is required to teach a set number of weeks by our accreditor, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), one of the six regional accreditation organizations recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.

Although our campus fully supports the guidelines given by the Korean Ministry of Education (MOE), because we are accredited by SACS, there are challenges for us to function exactly the same as other Korean universities accredited by the MOE. And if we shifted the semester by starting later and ending later, students who relied on the published academic calendar would be negatively impacted.

Those holidays do not occur on a regular pattern of days. As a result, some classes might have too many make up days by using these holidays, and others not enough. In addition, we took into consideration that some students may already have plans for those days. We will schedule class days for students to attend during reading days, but only at their option, as some may want to use those days to study.

Our goal has been to find the best way to provide our education to students in the current situation as we monitored the outbreak week by week, day by day. Even a week before the start of classes, the covid-19 situation in Korea appeared under control. Likewise, during the first week of classes new case numbers were moderate, though by then we were planning for a more extended period of online learning.

A tuition discount would assume that this situation was of Mason Korea’s making. Rather, Mason Korea is responding to a challenging situation, as we all must. We have the same expenses we need to cover, whether we teach online or face-to-face. Faculty and staff are working hard to convert their courses and support operations during this challenging time. We will continue to offer guides and support students to experience sophisticated online learning comparable to face-to-face classes.

Converting courses to online takes some time to accomplish, especially when it occurs unexpectedly. Your faculty are working overtime to do so. We also have brought in experts in online learning from George Mason Fairfax and drawn on faculty at Mason Korea with this expertise to help their colleagues develop their online courses.

You play an important part too: let your professors know what is working and what is not. Think about how you might have to engage differently in an online course. Active learning of the sort that is central to a Mason Korea education means that students take charge of their education. Increasingly, workplaces conduct their business online. Use this experience as a way of learning how to function in the professional online space. Finally, if you find a particular course in which the online teaching seems insufficiently effective, let us know which course it is and what the problems are, so that we can work to improve it. We will seek to preserve your anonymity if you wish. You can write the Office of Academic Affairs (mkaa@gmu.edu) to let us know about particular courses.

We recognize some students may want to sit this semester out given the challenging situation. Those who do not wish to continue on have the option to drop all courses and withdraw from the semester with a 100% tuition refund. We have extended the deadline to choose this option until March 13.