- 2024 New Year's Address 2024.01.02
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2024 New Year’s Address
Dear friends and family of Yonsei,
2024, the Year of the Dragon has dawned. I pray that the Lord’s blessing will go with you throughout this year. Despite the threat of uncertainty presented by the post-COVID era, Yonsei has been faithful to its mission. As pioneers, we have continued with the pursuit of daring innovation and further strengthened our competitive edge. I express my deepest gratitude to you, family of Yonsei, for walking alongside us in this great journey.
Respected Yonsei community,
Over the past four years, Yonsei has achieved significant milestones across the fields of research, education, finance, administration, and infrastructure. Having established the Institute for Project-Y (IPY), we have laid the foundation not only in the 12 key national strategic technology areas but across all disciplines, through IPY’s innovative convergence research capabilities. Moreover, we have seen the Field Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI), an important measure of academic research, rise significantly from 1.33 in 2019 to 1.63 in a span of less than four years.
Further good news is that we have entered an era of 500 billion won in annual funding, a significant rise from four years ago when funding was at 3.8 billion won. Based on this boost in funding, we became the top private university in Korea for the first time, as well as ranking 8th in the 2023 QS Asia University Rankings. It was truly an historic achievement. Also, in 2023, we leaped from 104th (2019) to 76th in the QS World University Rankings. Likewise, we climbed from 197th (2019) to 76th in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2024. These achievements are a testament of Yonsei University’s assiduous pursuit of academic excellence and leadership in global higher education. Now, our aspiration is becoming a reality.
Yonsei has made multifaceted efforts to foster innovative leaders with a sense of community spirit. With the first-year program in Residential College and the newly-expanded AI-integrated major, among other small innovations, we have been providing an educational environment for creative, outside-of-the-box thinking, readying our students for this era of rapid change. In addition, the creation of LearnUs, the first university online education platform in Korea, has allowed access to nearly 100,000 courses and presents a breakthrough in the paradigm of education, by involving faculty members from 29 universities. This has created the cornerstone for an online higher education platform that enables the participation of the general public, engaging in diverse social issues in local communities. LearnUS signifies a proactive maneuver in the age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, a model educational paradigm through media transformation.
In the past four years, Yonsei has raised a record high 400 billion won in funds. The Development Committee, established in 2021 to plan and execute Yonsei's vision and long-term plans, has agreed to invest over 60 billion won just in the past year, in attracting global researchers and in creating new educational content, as well as in exploring new media possibilities in education. Yonsei’s dauntless undertakings have been supported by its prudent financial management and bold investments. Yonsei has now firmly established a platform to launch itself towards its new goal of reaching top 30 in global university rankings, navigating humanity through global catastrophic change and guiding it toward a sustainable future.
Since 2021, the "One Yonsei Special Committee" has been working to consolidate the potential of Yonsei as a single entity, aiming for long-term and sustainable development. Through systematic information management, both productivity and convergence research potential have improved throughout the entire Yonsei community. An efficient foundation for promoting collaborative research, based on shared research information, has been established as well. Hence, the committee will continue to improve information and operational procedures in the academic sector, to strengthen accountability in budget allocation, and to suggest alternative approaches to collaborative research and integrated education.
In the past four years, Yonsei has made great strides in creating more space for education and research. The "Medical School Site Special Committee" has succeeded in securing the new site for its overpopulated medical school. Likewise, the engineering building was expanded by 5,000 square meters, and the science academy by 2,000 square meters, both urgently requested for cutting-edge and interdisciplinary research. In addition, to make room for the newly established semiconductors major, the construction project for Engineering Hall 5 has been revised and expanded.
Beloved and respected Yonsei family,
In the midst of global issues such as climate change, pandemics, war, inequalities in income and wealth, and social polarization, Korean society is at a critical juncture. As a leader in global and national education and research, Yonsei also finds itself at the center of rapid change, confronting serious challenges to its role. We will continually be dedicated to innovation and the sustainable future of humanity through education, research, and social contribution; we will gauge the changes and challenges of the global post-COVID era, as well as the looming advent of general artificial intelligence; intrepid, we will respond swiftly with understanding, with responses changes and challenges. Innovation occurs through efficient synthesis of thinking, which is conceived during the process of embracing diversity, and exchange of knowledge. Through collaboration, dedication, and innovation, Yonsei will prevail in this journey to the uncertain future and become an exemplar of global higher education. I would like to thank everyone who has so far supported this quest. Despite the challenges perched on the path, we were able to walk past them with joy and happiness because of you, the Yonsei family. You have walked and deliberated together on this path, to reach a new Yonsei and a new future.
In its 138 years of history, Yonsei has pioneered modern medicine with Chejungwon, devoted itself to preserving the national spirit with Yonhi College, and shepherded Korean society through industrialization, democratization, and informatization as Yonsei University. Yonsei, which has carried out its duty and mission over these years, must once again begin our march for the new future. To quote from a poem by Jung Ho-seung, "Even where the road ends, there is yet a road." I sincerely hope that each and every one of the Yonsei family will walk endlessly on his or her own road, become the very road itself, towards spring. As we greet the new year of 2024, I pray that the abundant grace of the Lord will continue to be with the Yonsei family's future. Thank you very much.
January 2, 2024
Seoung Hwan Suh
President, Yonsei University