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Lee Hyo-soo, President of Yeungnam University | This year has been a meaningful one for Yeungnam University, a private university east of Daegu.
The 62-year-old school announced in February a long-term “glocal” initiative, aiming to achieve local and global progress with the inauguration of its president, Lee Hyo-soo.
Lee has since raised 110 billion won ($86 million) in government subsidies to be used on research and academic-industrial cooperative projects. Further, the university foundation gained full control of the school, ending nearly 20 years of temporary state-appointed leadership that followed a corruption scandal.
Now that the school controls its destiny, Lee, a longtime economics professor who is widely recognized for his expertise in labor relations, believes what remains to be done includes “three goals, seven strategies, 21 action plans and 100 detailed tasks.” Those were set earlier this year.
Should the long-term vision turn out to be successful, the university will become one of top 100 in the world by 2020, Lee said in a recent campus interview. The campus is about a 30-minute car ride away from the East Daegu train station.
Founded by the former President Park Chung Hee, a native of North Gyeongsang, the university was once hailed as a prestigious local university that outstanding students chose over schools in Seoul. That was supported by the fact that three incumbent ministers, including Health Minister Jeon Jae-hee, are alumni. Yeungnam ranks third among universities nationwide in the number of incumbent lawmakers it has produced.
However, Lee acknowledges that the school’s prestige has dimmed to some extent as students increasingly opted for Seoul as their higher education destination.
But he intends to regain the past glory with an aggressive agenda.
“We can no longer complain that local universities are losing recognition because people from everywhere want to live in the Seoul metropolitan area,” he said. “That’s just the cold reality of it, but we need to take countermeasures.”
The key to Yeungnam’s long-term agenda is combining localization and globalization, he says. “Locally, we are joining hands with industries and government agencies for academic research focused on converging various academic fields to become a pioneer in new fields in green technologies, culture and biomedicine. Globally, we are expanding our overseas network and bringing in excellent foreign professors who can deliver lectures in English. But we have to remember success in localization will guarantee globalization.”
After earning his bachelor’s degree in economics from Yeungnam University, Lee obtained a master’s degree and Ph.D. from Seoul National University. He became an economics professor in 1973 and since 2006 he has served as a member of the executive committee of the International Industrial Relations Association.
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[Globalizing universities] University aims to develop 3 new major fields of study |
Q. Could you explain the school’s “glocal” initiatives?
A. They are basically part of a larger paradigm shift. Nobody expected Samsung to outpace Sony but Samsung did it, after making a paradigm shift toward quality in 1993. The same will be true for university management. At the center of the recent paradigm shift in university education is globalization. In the 20th century, the focus in academia was on exploration of a single traditional academic field for industrialization. Now, the axis of the society is centered around knowledge. The top priority in academia now is merging traditional fields of study in order to resolve the major issues confronting humanity. To do that, the barriers between fields need to be broken and cooperation is a necessity. In this regard, we are developing three major fields of research: green technology, cultural value creation and biomedicine under the program “Global Frontier 10-3-10.” In 10 years, we hope these areas of study will be among the top 10 fields in the world. We have also developed academic programs that combine different majors in the social science and humanities departments. For example, we have a China business program, with classes in economics, business management, international trade and Chinese language.
Q. What type of students does Yeungnam aim to foster?
A. We hope to develop our students into people with “Y-pattern” characteristics. The letter “Y” is from the first letter of our name, but it also resembles a person stretching their arms up high. In the “Y-pattern,” the left hand represents creativity, the right hand, sincerity, and the tail, personality. The combination of these three characteristics completes the Y-pattern. I think Yeungnam alumni carry the positive aspects of this DNA - broad-mindedness, fortitude and leadership. Characteristics like these are what have allowed a number of our alumni to succeed thus far in Korean society. I want that spirit back, now that it has been somewhat diminished. I take pride in the fact that Yeungnam produced 18 lawmakers who are serving in the 18th National Assembly, behind Seoul National University and Sungkyunkwan University. We are ninth among Korean universities in terms of the number of alumni working as executives at the top 30 corporations in Korea.
Q. What progress has Yeungnam made toward globalization?
A. We have recently changed our regulations on hiring foreign professors and lecturers so that we can bring in more people from overseas. Those who have the ability to conduct their lectures in English will be given priority, even among the Korean candidates. Korean university students should become more accustomed to an English-language environment because English-language ability is a fundamental component of competitiveness. Toward this goal, we intend to raise the portion of English lectures to 20 percent of the total by 2012, compared to the 4.4 percent we have now. We are also offering monthly financial incentives to professors who give their lectures in English. In addition, we are currently operating exchange programs with 20 universities worldwide. Students can participate in overseas internship programs that are guaranteed by our sister universities, including Ball State University and the University of Alabama in the United States. In addition, we recently signed a student exchange partnership with India’s Institute of Rail Transport and since last semester our professors have been developing all-English programs for exchange students from this and other schools. The programs will be launched in September next year.
Q. What specific incentives does the university provide to attract students with excellent academic records who are eligible to enter Seoul’s best schools?
A. We have an 80-student department called Cheonma Human Resources, which was named after an animal resembling a horse during the Silla Dynasty (57 B.C. ? A.D 935). Students in the department are given scholarships and monthly stipends and can live in the dormitories free of charge. They are allowed to choose any major, except medicine, pedagogy, music and art, and the school provides additional support to students choosing careers as government officials, lawyers and CPAs.
Q. How has the recovery of the university foundation impacted its operations?
The most important thing is for the foundation to return to a stable management structure. Previously, there was anxiety about the school’s future among the staff, but now we can make long-term plans for the school’s development. In that respect, I would say that the foundation’s returning to normal will have a largely positive impact on Yeungnam’s future growth.
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