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Yonsei University’s 128th Anniversary Speech 2013.05.11

May 11, 2013
 
  I would like to extend a warm welcome to the Honorable Chairperson Suk Soo Kim of the Board of Directors, to our distinguished guests, to those Yonsei alumni who have returned to our campus to commemorate their 25th-year and 50th-year graduation anniversaries, as well as to all Yonsei family members who have joined us today to celebrate the 128th anniversary of Yonsei University. I would like especially to congratulate those Yonseians who will be receiving awards for their dedicated service, outstanding research, and academic accomplishments today.
 
  Respected Yonsei family members, 
  Today we have gathered on Yonsei’s beautiful green campus to celebrate our 128th anniversary and to revisit our university’s founding spirit and mission, pledging to build Yonsei’s even more splendid future as we carry on those prestigious traditions. I am humbled and thankful for God’s providence and guidance of Yonsei when witnessing that the seeds sown with tears by our pioneers 128 years ago are bearing 30 fold and even 100 fold fruits.
 
  Over the past 128 years, we have walked through the history of Korea’s modern post-secondary education. Even today, Yonsei consistently educates leaders of the world and the future. To build upon Yonsei’s cherished traditions and fulfill our mission, I announced the vision of the “Third Founding” at the time of my inauguration last year as the seventeenth President of the university. The Third Founding envisions a promise for us to take a new leap forward to become a world-class university based on our traditions accumulated over these many years. With the First Founding, Yonsei became the pioneer of Korean post-secondary education, and we led the nation’s industrialization and democratization with the Second Founding. It is my earnest desire to see Yonsei spring forward into becoming a world-class university to lead dynamic and creative changes beyond the borders of Korea in Asia and across the globe. My future dream for Yonsei called for a pursuit of excellence in research and education, whilst maintaining “excellentia cum dignitate,” or “excellence with dignity,” to become Asia’s World University.
 
  Through our efforts over the past year, we were able to reaffirm Yonsei’s boundless potential and possibilities to create a new future. Drastic changes have occurred over the past year, the first official year of Yonsei’s Third Founding. 2012 was an overwhelmingly joyful year, in which Yonsei was able to set the foundations to progress towards becoming a truly world-class university. Last year, Yonsei not only demonstrated exceptional performance in local and international university evaluations, but we also overcame various conflicts and blocks to resolve long-cherished wishes of the school community.
 
  The first change began with the overflowing joy of opening and dedicating the Songdo International Campus to God under His great blessings and grace. Since 2006, Yonsei has dedicated seven long years to bear the fruit of opening the International Campus with 59 acres of teaching facilities and further plans to construct 76 acres of advanced technology teaching and research facilities. As you may still remember, the campus was built on reclaimed land on the coast of Incheon. Yonsei’s new soil has been secured to embrace our digital civilization and lead our global era at a place where water becomes land to create heaven and earth.
 
  We have already successfully implemented the Residential College (RC) system, a central component of world-class universities, to enable all first-year students to enjoy at least one semester of the RC system. Starting next year, one full year of RC education will be available for all incoming students. Students with various upbringings and cultural backgrounds will learn the importance of communicating and cooperating with others, while realizing the meaning of community and social responsibilities through the RC environment. It is a university’s natural duty and dream to foster exceptional talents who can respect and care for others, shed light on the darkness in the society, and serve the world. We are certain that our efforts will bring forth a paradigm shift in Korea’s post-secondary education.
 
  The second change occurred with facilitation of future-oriented education and research based on convergence. Our new teaching system introduced at Songdo International Campus will bring the university “back to the basics”, recovering the true essence of a university. Initially formed out of the guild system in the medieval West, the university was originally called “universitas” in Latin, which refers to a group of disparate individuals with different thoughts and research interests. Starting next year, we will take on a new mission to raise future-oriented leaders who aspire toward multidisciplinary thinking in response to the changes in knowledge.
 
  For the first time in Korea, Yonsei will also introduce seven new multidisciplinary major programs at Underwood International College’s Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) Area and the Science and Engineering Division (SED) to launch an undergraduate program that offers interdisciplinary education across the fields of humanities, social sciences and natural science. Through this initiative, we will create a new education system to raise global leaders with multidisciplinary thinking skills and with basic knowledge in all areas of the humanities, arts and culture, beyond the limits of one’s academic major and department. In turn, UIC at Songdo International Campus will develop into a world-class arts & sciences college with more than 2,000 students. The entire campus at Songdo will grow into a large campus with more than 5,000 students of diverse faculties, including the freshman class of the Residential College, Underwood International College, the College of Pharmacy, as well as the IT Creative Consilience Program.
 
  Yonsei also launched the Institute of Convergence Science last April to facilitate multidisciplinary research in the areas of humanities, social sciences, medical and biological science, and engineering. More than 400 professors from Yonsei’s four campuses participated to create 38 research centers under the institute. We also created a research map for participating researchers easily to develop academic networks across various research areas.
 
  Moreover, we will construct a medical and life science complex actively to support interdisciplinary research and education, while maximizing Yonsei’s potential in medical and life science studies. The creation of this complex will become the turning point of advancing Yonsei’s academic prestige in medical and life science, as it can benefit from sharing the advanced facilities and research capabilities of Yonsei’s medical center and main campus, which are closely located to each other.
 
  The third change can be found at the newly transforming Sinchon Campus. Starting this year, we will modernize the campus infrastructure, including reconstructing the Baekyang-ro. This project will put the vehicle pathway and parking lots underground and change the area into an environmentally-friendly green space, making Baekyang-ro “under the wood” as a forest in the city. It will transform Baekyang-ro into a center of exchange, communication and culture for all Yonseians. I hope you will take an active role in this reconstruction project to change the face of our main campus and mark your name on Baekyang-ro forever.
 
  We will also continue the construction projects of the new School of Business building and the expansion of the College of Engineering building as previously planned. We will begin the construction of the residence building for graduate students soon. In addition, Jejung Residence and Beophyeon Residence will be added to resolve the residential demands of the students at Sinchon Campus. The Cancer Center is also nearing completion to support Severance Hospital in becoming a world-leading medical facility and to advance its prestige. Wonju Severance Christian Hospital, the former Wonju Medical Center, will enhance the medical safety net and standards of the Gyeonggi and Kangwon regions by establishing a regional trauma center and introducing emergency medical rescue helicopters.
 
  The fourth change is Yonsei’s rising international status in today’s global community. To expand Yonsei’s global presence and influence, we are in the process of launching the G10 Project to create a global network of world-class universities. Yonsei has already initiated and established the 3-Campus Consortium in partnership with Keio University and The University of Hong Kong, and Princeton University, Cornell University, and King’s College London have agreed to participate in the 3-Campus Program for Comparative East Asian Studies. Since February 2012, Yonsei has established new initiatives with several top 50 world ranking universities: The University of Chicago, Princeton University, Cornell University, The University of Edinburgh and King’s College London. In addition, we will jointly develop summer school programs with the University of Oxford starting from next year. With these accomplishments, Yonsei has further promoted collaboration with world-leading universities in teaching, student and faculty exchange, and joint research to complete successfully the G10 Project.
 
  Last March, Yonsei was invited by the United Nations (UN) as the only Korean university to a meeting of the presidents of 25 global universities to discuss the role that should be played by universities in the direction of public policy and education in pursuit of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals. The common challenge for all world-class universities was “to raise global leaders to lead change by opening and converging different areas of academia, as well as cooperating and expanding global networks”.
 
  My beloved Yonsei family, 
  The current year of 2013 presents a new set of challenges for the educational environment of universities in Korea. The rapidly changing global circumstances and economic situation are heightening competition among universities, which are further burdened with financial pressures led by a declining student population and increasing demands for tuition fee reduction. In the midst of such internal and external changes, Yonsei shall maintain its excellence and dignity as a globally competitive prestigious university and fulfill its role as a pioneer of change.
 
  Yonsei will celebrate its 130th anniversary in just two years. We will continue to prepare for a new phase in history by cherishing the spirit of our founding fathers while strengthening our reputation and traditions. This is our timely mission and also the key to our success in the Third Founding initiative.
 
  Last of all, I would like to share a quote from an old letter from Dr. Horace G. Underwood, the founder of Yonsei University. The letter was written by Dr. Underwood on August 26, 1915, in Sorae, Incheon, close to where the Songdo International Campus is currently located. It is addressed to Dr. Arthur J. Brown, who was in charge of the overseas mission headquarters based in New York. The letter illustrates the wisdom and dedication of Dr. Underwood as he led the First Founding of Yonsei in spite of difficult circumstances.
 
  At that time, the relationship between Japan’s colonial government and the missionaries had rapidly deteriorated after a missionary openly criticized a Japanese police officer for brutally torturing a Korean national. The colonial government did not wish to tolerate the establishment of a Christian university in Seoul. Furthermore, another Christian university was already established in Pyongyang, which led Dr. Underwood to face internal opposition as well. Dr. Underwood overcame such internal and external obstacles to establish Yonhi College, the symbol of the First Founding of a Christian university. The colonial government sent out school commissioners constantly to provoke quarrels and even demanded to ban lectures on religion when teaching ethics. With reports on the sharp surveillance of the colonial government, Dr. Underwood left a message about the essence of education.
 
  “When teaching religion, missionaries can help not by speaking with words but by living it.”
 
  My beloved Yonsei family, 
  May this day be filled with joy in celebration of Yonsei’s 128th anniversary. Today is a day to reminisce about memories on this beautiful campus filled with youthful excitement. Yonsei is not just a mere institution of higher learning in Korea. The altruistic spirit of life lived by our pioneers, who shaped the First Founding of the school, is still flowing throughout our main Sinchon Campus to pass through the Wonju Campus and finally to reach the Songdo International Campus. We will fulfill our Christian calling by demonstrating a life of devotion instead of lecturing with empty words. May the grace of God and His blessings be poured upon every single member of the Yonsei family now and forever.