First-ever Extracurricular Point System Among Universities in Korea
Establishment of Campus “Commerce Ecosystem” Expected

SU Institute for Innovation Education launched SU-Pay, a points mileage system for extracurricular courses. This first-ever system among all universities in Korea is an e-money system that stores scholarship points offered to students who complete extracurricular courses, of which the stored points can be used as cash for making purchases at any stores on campus.

SU-Pay is installed and can be used in SU-TALK, the official mobile messenger app of Sahmyook University. Making a purchase with this system is simple: log onto SU-TALK, move to the SU-Pay tab, touch the “Make a Payment” button, and finally, scan the QR code of the store to deduct points, completing the payment.

The way of earning points remains the same: simply take and complete an array of extracurricular courses from Sahmyook University. Unused points can be cashed out before graduation.

SU-Pay is an outcome of the Integrated Support Center for Extracurricular Programs of the SU Institute for Innovation Education, which began developing the system in 2019. The Integrated Support Center for Extracurricular Programs is a department that manages all the extracurricular programs offered and operated by various departments. The department has the aims of cultivating people equipped with the university’s core abilities and supporting students with their exploration and pursuit of a career.

With the launch of SU-Pay, the center expects to see higher rates of interest and participation of students in extracurricular programs. Furthermore, it links the new system with the existing online promotion system for extracurricular programs (SU-ePR) and the integrated extracurricular program system (SU-Plus) to enable one-stop services for promotions, participation history management, and payment and operation services of scholarships for extracurricular programs.

“Whereas the extracurricular scholarship points used to be provided only during a certain period of time at the end of the semester, students can now receive, store, and use their points real-time, feeling a lot more satisfied,” Researcher Lee Wu-seong from the center said. “We also expect an increase in work efficiency for related departments in terms of paying scholarships,” he added.

Establishing a ’commerce ecosystem’ is an additional effect of utilizing SU-Pay. Sahmyook University plans to go beyond the stores on campus to include nearby restaurants and cafes in SU-Pay as member stores. The system is expected to be linked to many more businesses, including SU museum’s planned business of selling souvenirs, Kong Kong Market (the SU flea market), and some on-campus startup programs.