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Yonsei University’s 130th Anniversary Speech 2015.05.09

May 9, 2015
 
 I would like to extend a warm welcome to the Honorable Chairman Woo Young Bang and Chairman Suk Soo Kim of the Board of Trustees, to President Sam-Koo Park of the Yonsei Alumni Association and other board of directors as well as former Presidents. I would also like to express my deep gratitude for all distinguished guests and Yonsei alumni who returned to our campus to commemorate their 25th and 50th year since graduation, as well as all Yonsei family members who have joined us today to celebrate Yonsei University’s 130th anniversary. Special congratulations to those Yonseians who received awards for their dedicated service, outstanding research, and academic accomplishments. I would especially like to congratulate President Sam-Koo Park of our Alumni Association, who is Chairman of Kumho Asiana Group, for receiving the honorary doctorate degree in business administration today. 
 
 What a historical and meaningful day! The average lifespan of the top 100 global companies are only about 30 years, yet today, Yonsei is proudly celebrating its 130th anniversary. On this special day, I would like to reflect on Yonsei’s founding spirit and past footprints, as we renew our resolution to prepare for the next 100 years. 
 
 First Founding and the Bitrh of the Yonsei Sprit
 Yonsei’s 130 years of noble spirit and mission began with our founders, Missionary Dr. Horace N. Allen and Dr. Horace G. Underwood, as they planted the seeds for missionary work, modern medical care and education system on the barren land of Chosun. Dr. Allen opened Jejungwon to make medical care available for those in pain. Dr. Underwood had faith that Chosun will become a land of God’s grace, despite the prevailing wariness, doubt and disdain. He overcame many conflicts, animosity and hardships and sowed the seeds of Yonsei. 
 
 Yonsei’s founding spirit and educational visions are well reflected through Seo-yang Park, Korea’s first modern surgical doctor who is also the first graduate of Jejungwon, Yonsei’s medical school. Park was from a butcher’s family, the “untouchable” outcaste group, and deprived of any learning opportunities. Due to his social class, Park did not even have a proper family register. However, Yonsei took him in and raised him as Korea’s first modern doctor who later opened a hospital and led the anti-Japanese movement as an independence activist. Park’s name was at the top of Yonsei’s school register. Yonsei saw him as a noble person who is free. The song of the truth and freedom from Yonsei’s first graduation ceremony in 1908 became the song of hope, marking a new history. The same song of hope resounds through us today. 
 
 Yonsei was also the first school to teach female students in Korea and produced the first female graduate, nurse Bae-se Kim, in 1910. Yonsei began teaching female students 59 years prior to the prestigious Yale University. Korea’s patriots such as Kyu-sik Kim and Dosan Ahn Chang-ho learned the love for their mother country at the Underwood School, initially established to take in orphans. Yonsei’s history is filled with leaders who freed the people and taught the truth, surpassing the limits of social oppression, prejudice and discrimination. 
 
 The Colleges of Liberal Arts, Science, Business and Theology are all celebrating the 100th anniversary this year and they have been fulfilling their mission as Korea’s first higher learning institutions. Through many teachers such as Won-cheol Lee, Korea’s first astronomer, and brilliant students like Dong-ju Yun, poet, Yonsei helped Korea’s national literature flourish. Yonsei has become a driving force that changes the world and people through openness and convergence that led to harmony across all ages and countries. 
 
 The Second Founding and University Expansion 
 
 In 1957, former President Nak Joon Baek led the Second Founding that created Yonsei University by merging Yonhi College and Severance Medical School. At his inauguration ceremony, he highlighted Yonsei’s educational vision as the following: “University exists for the truth … university’s role is to teach the truth, study the unknown, preserve and protect the ancestral cultures and pass it down to the future generations. Moreover, it should be ahead of its times to guide the society to take the right path for change and progress.” 
 
 Based on this vision, Yonsei has raised countless leaders through continuous growth over the past 130 years. Yonsei led Korea’s modernization, industrialization and democratization, as well as cultural prosperity. In 1978, the Wonju Campus was newly established. Today, Yonsei boasts 300,000 alumni, 4,800 faculty members and four campuses including Sinchon, Wonju and International Campus, as well as the Yonsei University Health System. It is also regarded as the top 20 private university in the world. 
 
 Respected Yonseians,
 In celebration of the 130th founding anniversary and 58th anniversary of the campus convergence as one Yonsei, we shall take another step forward in spirit of truth and freedom, and openness and convergence. Let us bring ourselves together to complete the historical Third Founding initiative and advance Yonsei as a world’s leading school.
 
 The Third Founding for a New Leap Forward
 
 Since I announced the Third Founding three years ago, Yonsei has been writing new and proud history in many aspects. The Songdo International Campus has become a cradle for Asia’s Residential College system. The Sinchon Campus is almost finished with the radical infrastructure innovation projects that newly built and expanded the School of Business and College of Engineering buildings. The Baekyangro Reconstruction Project is almost near completion within this semester. Asia’s best Cancer Hospital is now at Yonsei University Health System, while the biggest renovation project of its history is under way at the Wonju Severance Christian Hospital. Wonju Campus is also continuously advancing as a specialized campus for teaching and research. 
 Despite the pressure from education and healthcare policy, Yonsei has taken a great leap as the top 20 private university in the world. Our specialized teaching programs such as Underwood International College and the Global Leadership Division have greatly strengthened our global competitiveness. Yonsei’s active participation in international networks, such as the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) and the Association of East Asian Research Universities (AEARU), created new opportunities for mutual cooperation and exchange in the development and operation of curriculum and collaborative research, moving beyond the traditional student-oriented exchange system. 
 
 As we celebrate the 130th anniversary, all campuses at Yonsei will be implementing the world’s first Smart Campus Network to advance the teaching, research and administrative system. In particular, through the Open Campus eXperience (OCX) platform that enables exchange of academic, cultural and artistic activities, we will embrace a community where education and culture flourish together. We are also Korea’s first university to supply our teaching courses through FutureLearn and Coursera, alongside other world’s leading schools. This step brings the internalization of our teaching programs to another level. We have also drastically improved the research support system and HR/compensation policy to refocus on our value on the pursuit of academic excellence.
 
 Preparing for the Next 100 Years
 I am fully aware that the Third Founding cannot simply be achieved with a few projects. We need to overcome all restrictions and challenges surrounding us, and begin shaping our future to become the world’s best university over the next 50 and 100 years. We shall prepare for a new vision and mission for Yonsei’s future as Yonsei celebrates the 150th and 200th anniversary.
 
 The environment for education and healthcare is rapidly changing. With reduced student population and university restructuring, in addition to the pressure to lower the tuition fees, we are facing fierce competition in the internationalized education market. The advancement of ICT, as seen in the emergence of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), has been shaking up the traditional notion of higher education. Welfare-oriented healthcare policy also created extra burden on our medical center’s administration. 
 
 At the same time, Yonsei still needs to strive for academic excellence as a world’s leading university. We also need to become a leader to resolve social dilemma through research, education and technology development. We are also responsible for improving social inequality. As our infrastructure expansion projects are coming to an end, we need to go back to the basics to focus on people and how best to raise them as future leaders. 
 
 Creating More Opportunities for the Marginalized Groups 
 Across the world, universities have been serving as the medium that accelerates social class mobility through teaching of advanced knowledge and information. However, in today’s highly industrialized society, higher learning became a tool for the privileged groups to reinforce their wealth and social class. Even in Korea, the entry barriers to prestigious schools have become extremely high; it is difficult to find “rags to riches” stories anymore.
 Yonsei would like to return to our founding spirit to create more opportunities for passionate and talented students from the marginalized groups. We need to remember the spirit of Jejungwon that raised a modern surgical doctor despite his low social class, and the spirit of Underwood School that taught orphans and raised patriots. We need to open our doors for the marginalized students experiencing difficulties to enter Yonsei, despite their potentials and creativity. To take active steps to reduce such social inequality, Yonsei will be expanding the ratio of students from marginalized groups to 10%, in addition to creating more scholarship opportunities for students from the low income families (lowest 30%). 
 
 With the 130th anniversary as a momentum, the Global Institute of Theology was launched not only to demonstrate our global education capabilities, but to bring Yonsei back to the founding spirit. As Dr. Underwood planted the seeds of missionary work and university education, we need to support Christian leaders from the Third World countries to raise them as the next Dr. Underwood. 
 
 Establishing Yonsei Nobel Initiative to Strengthen Academic Excellence 
 As we prepare for the next 100 years, Yonsei has another mission to strengthen our research and teaching capabilities in pursuit of world-class academic excellence. Through this, we would like to see Yonsei’s great scholars share the podium at The Nobel Prize Award Ceremony in 20 years, in time for our school’s 150th anniversary. For this purpose, we are launching the “Yonsei Nobel Initiative” to create a culture where we can shift paradigms and produce excellent research outcomes in a creative yet stable environment. To see a quantum jump of our research capabilities, we need to devise a systematic strategy to bring our wisdom together. Through the Institute of Convergence Science, Barun ICT Research Center, Global Institute for Sustainability Studies, and Institute of Disaster Resilience and Safety, we will create synergy and opportunities for academic convergence. By establishing international research networks that vitalize creative research base, Yonsei scholars should become Nobel Prize laureates. 
 
  Yonsei has another great mission to raise our educational excellence to a world class level. Maintaining the spirit that led Korea’s higher education field over the past 130 years, we need to specialize Yonsei’s teaching to compete against other leading schools. We have already established specialized programs such as Underwood International College, Global Leadership Division and the G10 Consortium. We also expanded our international networks and became a global university that brings students from 103 countries across the world. 
 
 Moving forward, Yonsei should continue to develop and expand the specialized teaching programs to raise global leaders. We should also further advance the Residential College (RC) system to create an environment for students to embrace both convergent creativity and cultural sensitivity, in addition to fostering academic caliber required for global leaders. 
 
 Campus Life with Culture and Passion 
 Upon Baekyangro Reconstruction Project’s completion, Sinchon Campus will be reborn as a campus where nature and culture flourish together next semester. Space for open communication and convergence will be created, also available for various cultural and academic events to take place. Starting from the main entrance, Yonseiro will become a car-free street of culture. Students will grow as global leaders in pursuit of the truth and freedom at the core of culture and education. Together with the RC system, the creation of this new space will be a motive for the Third Founding that renews Yonseians’ genes. 
 
 Under such circumstances, I have no doubt that all Yonsei’s faculty members, as well as our alumni and parents of students, will come together to show their love and support for the school. For Yonsei to become a world class school, we need support from our alumni and Yonsei community, to a level that can parallel the support shown by Ivy League communities for their alma maters. More than 50,000 people made contributions for Yonsei headed by the Baekyangro Reconstruction Project last year, creating a new record of Yonsei alumni’s support. I am confident that this new culture of support for the school, made by all faculty members, students and alumni, will be the driving force of Yonsei’s Third Founding. 
 
 Dear Yonseians,
 Yonsei has been a place of miracles under God’s providence over the past 130 years. Yonsei’s all four campuses have been established with the spirit of contributions, devotions and pioneers, which cannot be found anywhere else around the world. After 130 years, it must be nearly impossible to find pioneering people like Dr. Allen and Dr. H. Underwood today. It will also be difficult to find generous contributors like Mr. Louis H. Severance and Mr. John Underwood. Who else will be able to mimic the great dream of securing 245 acres of land for 200 students? The Wonju and Songdo campuses were also established in the spirit of devotion and pioneering. We have been blessed as a result of their devotions, and we are now able to lift up the name of Yonsei around the world. 
 
 As we celebrate the 130th anniversary, let us reflect on the noble mission of Yonsei. Yonsei’s future is now in our hands. Let us renew our promise to create new light in history through the Third Founding for the next 100 years, with the frontier spirit and heart of devotions. 
 
 I sincerely thank all Yonseians and distinguished guests for gracing this occasion with their presence. May God’s honor and protection be with Yonsei and may everyone’s future shine brightly together with Yonsei. 
 
 Thank you.