Scholarship of excellence awarded by the South Korean government

Catalina Negoita, a third-year student in the Bachelor program at École Polytechnique, has been granted a scholarship of excellence by the South-Korean government.

École Polytechnique's Bachelor of Science program is designed for students passionate about math and science. This three-year program offers the opportunity to spend an exchange semester abroad during the third year, encouraging the participants to discover other academic and cultural approaches.  

A Romanian national, Catalina Negoita is enrolled in the double major “Mathematics & Computer Science”. She decided to apply for the exchange semester at the Pohang University of Science and Technology in South Korea (Postech). Renowned for the quality of its education and research in science and technology, this private research university ranks among the top universities in Asia.

“Postech offers many interesting courses taught in English and related to topics such as pervasive computing and AR/VR Design”, explains Catalina. “The variety of project-based courses furthered my wish to study there, as my favorite way of learning is through collaboration and the application of theory to solve real-life problems”, she adds. But Postech’s reputation wasn’t the only reason. Catalina has been “passionate about Asian culture and history for a long time”.

École Polytechnique and Postech set up an agreement in 2018, facilitating mobility for students and researchers. But the Covid crisis brought mobilities temporarily to a halt, and Catalina Negoita is the first student from École Polytechnique who participates in the exchange program at Postech in the framework of the two institutions' exchange agreement.

The Korean government support program for foreign exchange students is very selective, making Catalina Negoita's achievement even more commendable. The Korean government grants scholarships to only approximately 200 selected candidates annually to accompany them as they discover the country's culture and higher education institutions.

At Postech, Catalina Negoita will follow courses on data science, mobile and ubiquitous computing, ethics in engineering, development of smart cities, game design studio, and the Korean language. Since the beginning of her studies at École Polytechnique, Catalina Negoita’s interest in Computer Sciences has steadily grown, and she aims for a career as a software engineer or data scientist. Therefore, as a logical step, she thinks about pursuing a "Master's program, which allows exploring different domains encompassing Computer Engineering and their real-world applications". However, for the time being, Catalina will focus on her exchange semester at Postech and the many events on campus, including the "Kaist-POSTECH Science War" - a series of sports competitions and AI and hacking contests between the two renowned universities for science and technology in South Korea.