Jeffrey Robertson

My name is Jeffrey Robertson. I live in Seoul, South Korea. I work as an Assistant Professor at Yonsei University where I teach courses on research methods and international relations. Yonsei University was born in the spirit of volunteerism with its predecessor colleges founded by American Protestant missionaries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

While I am fairly new to South Korea, I've been lucky enough to be involved in a few volunteering initiatives. I've been a UNESCO Cultural Exchange Volunteer (CEV), where I visited regional schools and organisations to talk about Australia and its culture; and I've been a Volunteer Tutor for a local NGO helping underprivileged children learn English to give them a head-start in South Korea's incredibly competitive education environment. These have both proved to be both great fun and incredibly rewarding.

For my next volunteering challenge, I want to take it up a notch. I am volunteering as an ANU Alumni network coordinator. There are more than 450 ANU alumni in South Korea with many of them concentrated in capital, Seoul. Bringing together ANU alumni will provide an opportunity for participants to again bask in the warmth of our Australian experiences, but may also help others as well. 

Alumni networks are important social institutions in South Korea. They build important bridges between social groups and serve as networks for information and social exchange. Importantly, they also play a role in giving back to the community in which they live. Yonsei University alumni give generously to their communities - there is no reason why ANU alumni in Korea cannot do the same!

If you are an ANU alumni in South Korea please contact me or the ANU Alumni Office so we can start talking about establishing an ANU Alumni Network in Korea and start heading down the path of volunteering!