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Yonsei University's 131th Anniversary Speech 2016.05.14

May 14, 2016

 

I would like to express my gratitude to the honorable Chairman Suk Soo Kim and Alumni Association President Sam-Koo Park, as well as our other proud alumni and distinguished guests, for visiting Yonsei today for this special ceremony. I would also like to extend my sincere respect and congratulations to the Yonseians who will receive awards for their dedicated service, outstanding entrepreneurship and research, and academic accomplishments today.  

 

On this beautiful day of the first spring after the Baekyangro Reconstruction Project’s completion, we are gathered here to celebrate Yonsei’s 131st anniversary. I am so thankful for the blessings that allowed a grain of wheat planted 131 years ago to grow and bear such abundant fruit today.

 

Just as Yonsei faced a modern revolution when it was founded, we are facing a great transition for our civilization. Just one month following my inaugural speech when I commented on the effect of artificial intelligence (AI) on university education, we experienced a shock from AlphaGo. Many felt discouraged and perplexed from this incident where the world’s best go player fell before an AI robot. Predictions are made about the jobs that will disappear and concerns are rising over how AI will present a grave threat to humanity.

 

Instead of fearing AI and the fourth industrial revolution that may lead to destructive social changes, we should turn them into opportunities for innovation. In the current period, Yonsei is given a mission to raise leaders who can take control in the midst of great civilizational changes, instead of becoming victimized. Education no longer only consists of teaching and learning, but it is changing into a process of self-learning. New knowledge is not innovation made in a research laboratory dedicated to a single field of academia, but is a result of connected sets of existing knowledge from different fields. Since problems facing humanity are globalized, actions of social contributions to solve such problems are made globally as well. University revenue must depend on intellectual properties rather than tuition fees.

 

In the midst of such rapid changes, I wish to be remembered as a president that changed the direction of Yonsei as it steps toward the future, instead of a president with a list of accomplishments. We need to change the direction of the university’s basic mission of teaching, research and social contributions. For this purpose, I would like present a value proposition called 3C, drawn from the first letters of the following three words: Christianity, Creativity and Connectivity.

 

Our respected Yonsei family,

 

The spirit of Christianity is the root of Yonsei and will act as a compass for us to step forward to an “old future.” Just like the missionaries who founded Yonsei, we must expand our territories of social contributions to live out the teachings of Christianity at a global level. For this reason, a single institution will consolidate various missions and volunteer programs carried out by different bodies of our school, including the main campus, Wonju Campus, Yonsei University Health System and the International Campus. This integration through the Yonsei Global Social Contributions Center will internationalize our social contributions work. Through this initiative, I hope to teach and practice the spirit of sharing and solicitude, laying out the foundation for the important value of empathy in the 21st century.

 

Within our school, I will create a community that helps each other for physically challenged and marginalized students. We still have fellow students skipping lunch and taking a leave of absence to earn their tuition. It warms my heart to see that faculty, staff and even retired Yonsei family members are passionately supporting the ongoing “Lunch Sharing Project.” I will strengthen support for the SOS Scholarship funds for students from low income families and local/international volunteer programs for our students. We are also raising funds for the “Pay Forward” Scholarship, where students receiving scholarships from former students promise to help other anonymous students in the future.

 

Distinguished guests,

 

Yonsei has been given a mission of the times to change the paradigm of teaching and research to a new model based on creativity. In the history of mankind, education has been about teaching and learning. But creativity required today cannot be taught unilaterally, which means the paradigm of education needs to shift. Professors teaching students should only act as guides to help students to learn on their own.

 

Creative self-learning will begin with our first year undergraduate program and the Residential College education system. I will change the education model to enable students to think creatively, not just remember facts as they were taught during high school. Small research grants will be given out to undergraduate student teams trying to solve problems in the community or the global society. Students will produce creative ideas, while trying to find and solve problems without a correct answer. Boundaries between classroom and the outside world will be taken down to enable education through experience.

 

The value of creativity applies to faculty research as well. Among faculty, some self-deprecatingly remark that they are “unable to do research in order to write research papers.” They are unable to conduct research according to their interests for the sake of getting promoted. Without changing the faculty’s research evaluation system, innovative and groundbreaking research that leads the society and the future direction of academia will be difficult to find. The newly implemented evaluation system will prioritize the quality of research instead of quantity. A self-evaluation system will be introduced for new faculty to set up research plans independently. After a certain period, they will be assessed based on how the plans have been carried out.

 

In particular, startup ventures are interrelated with the creative capacity of the faculty and student body. Creativity is the new career path for students amidst the current employment slump that our society faces. The Yonsei University Library’s U-Lounge was opened yesterday as the campus’ first “Creative Playground” to foster imagination and creativity. We have also begun discussions with Seoul City to transform Sinchon into a creative ecosystem. The Creative Playground will eradicate the “fear of failure” culture that prevents students from thinking outside of the box. Instead, it will embrace bold thinking and the failures that may come with it.

 

The second stage of Yonsei’s globalization is the globalization of employments and startups. Intellectual ventures and companies such as CBOL with extensive networks are our preferred partners at home and abroad. This is where our students will lead the way, pioneering the international venture market. The success of Yonsei University’s startup ventures will transform the revenue structure.

 

Beloved Yonsei family,

 

Connectivity is yet another trait of humanity. The second of the two Chinese characters that make up the word for humanity() references the space between two things. This means that humanity cannot exist in one individual alone, but exists among a collective group through which love, affection, and sympathy can flow. A collective consciousness is the foundation of how we can postulate that 1+1 is not just 2, but rather 3 or even 100. What would have been impossible to achieve alone becomes possible, and previously unimaginable ideas come to light. There is a tendency for students to descend into a lonely unhappiness and professors to exile themselves to their offices and labs.

 

From now on, students will not study in solitude, but engage in discussion and collaborative work with classmates in invigorating study. Upright character is the foundation of good interpersonal ties, and thus Yonsei will strengthen character building education. W.E.B. Dubois once said that, “the object of all true education is not to make men carpenters, it is to make carpenters men.” Yonsei, too, aspires to foster genuine persons, and our matriculation ceremony will consist of a new ethics charter and oath.

 

At the same time, Yonsei will be developing problem-solving subjects that provide the insight and perspective necessary for both the arts and sciences. The threat of climate change to humanity is an issue that requires the perspectives of the natural sciences, humanities, social sciences, and engineering to converge. Through cross-subject material, students will be equipped with the skills to bridge creative thoughts from different fields into a new “Extelligence”.

 

Problems that have until now been out of reach of individual fields will become researchable with the construction of a web of interdisciplinary study. Yonsei will have the benefit of convergent research, utilizing the resources of medicine, the natural sciences, engineering, the humanities, social sciences, and all varieties of disciplines all on one united campus. Professors from diverse backgrounds can share ideas in the “Medici Room,” where imagination can flourish and ideas be exchanged. Research funds will be extended especially toward projects that link BT and IT. Currently, our convergent science research team consists of graduate students. If this experimental research team proves successful, faculty will be assigned to the project to elevate it to a fully functioning research group.

 

Yonsei will build a Science Park on the International Campus.  Upon completion of reclamation of a 100,000 m2 land area, Yonsei will attract research centers to establish an exemplary industrial cooperative model such as the Swedish Kista Science Park. Numerous companies have already expressed their interest to join in this plan, and the Fraunhofer Institute of Germany is the first to pledge its participation.

 

The interconnectedness of our alumni is essential. The beautiful Yonsei campus has been opened as a park for our alumni and their families. Alumni enjoy complimentary parking service on the weekends, and we plan to soon extend this to our alumni of the Wonju Campus as well. We also seek to continuously expand admissions counseling and medical reservation services for our alumni as well.

 

Distinguished guests,

 

It is predicted that, due to the fourth industrial revolution, half of the jobs in the world will disappear by 2030. In this rapidly changing world, the university has to train and produce talent who will lead this fourth industrial revolution. We cannot wait to discover these talented students within the university, but must directly go to high schools and proactively seek excellent students. Even students with less strong grades may have creative potential and we must foster that possibility by identifying these students with promise.

 

On this meaningful day on which we welcome the 131st anniversary of the foundation of Yonsei, we enthusiastically take the first step towards our next 100 years.

 

Again, I would like to congratulate the alumni who returned to reunite with us again today. I also extend my deepest respect and gratitude to our distinguished guests who graced us with their presence. May the love of God and His grace be always with you.