Making Our Visions a Reality: Yonsei Will Stand Proud Greetings to all members of the Yonsei Family. As the first dawn of 2007 breaks, we look back upon a year of confusion and adversity. Seemingly uncontrollable real estate prices, low employment among young people, social polarization, and nuclear testing to our North were just a few of many domestic issues that taxed our spirit. On the international arena, we sadly witnessed Iraq's continual state of civil war, the earthquake in Indonesia, and the disastrous torrential rain in the Philippines. And with the Democratic Party's victory in US elections and the success of left-wing parties in Latin America, it appeared that more winds of change were coming upon us. Yet, through it all, Yonsei has reached milestone after milestone, achieving new heights through the selfless efforts of all members of the Yonsei Family. In a country whose primary natural resources are human, Yonsei's dedication to discovering and nurturing future global leaders by providing the highest quality in education and research has continued without pause, and we have made every effort to provide a better academic environment. Construction of the '120th Anniversary Academic Information Center,' our state-of-the-art library facility, is progressing smoothly with the help of Samsung Corporation. We have also improved our financial position by raising tuition fees and freezing the salaries of faculty and staff. With regard to activities that were disruptive to the academic environment, such as the August 15 North-South Event, we successfully denied them access to our campus, thus ensuring that our students and faculty could pursue their studies without interruption. Globalization of education, a key component of 「Yonsei Vision 2020」, is beginning to take root. In 2006, the number of full-time instructors with foreign nationality was 46; 415 classes were conducted in English, which accounts for 15.7% of the total curriculum; and there were 194 international students in undergraduate programs, with an additional 199 in the Graduate School. These numbers are as yet far below our Vision 2020 goals but are improving at an accelerating pace. Dear members of the Yonsei Family, Our nation has caught the attention of the world with our economic and technological advancements, and our role as a research university is to ensure that the nation continues to advance through a constant infusion of new ideas and technology. Overcoming limited funding and constraints of space, our faculty has made great strides in research and was successfully awarded, in total, approximately 180 million dollars over 7 years of the government sponsored 2nd-Stage Brain Korea 21 (BK21) research funds. With these funds, we have laid the foundation to shape our University into one of the world's leading research centers. But this is only a beginning. With the help of Hyundai-Kia Motors, we have invited Nobel laureates in physics, chemistry, medicine, and economics to the Yonsei Nobel Forum. Their presence on our campus has inspired our students to cultivate their dreams, and Yonsei now has the resources to make them a reality. Change, reform, and innovation are necessary to survival in a world where information technology plays a critical role, and Yonsei will do its best to stay ahead of competition by accelerating its rate of change tenfold. In order to provide better service to our international community, we have strengthened the educational role of the Underwood International College and have newly promoted our international exchange division to the Office of International Affairs. Restructuring has also taken place throughout the University. We have integrated the areas of Communication, Public Relations, and Visual Communication by creating the Graduate School of Communication. And in Wonju, we have separated the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences into two homogeneous colleges: the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Science. On the administrative front, we have tried to promote responsible administration and better service to the Yonsei community by requiring all employees to wear identification tags. Furthermore, in order to improve public relations both at home and abroad, we began circulating the English edition of the Yonsei Newsletter to academic and research institutions all around the world. The world-class facilities of the Yonsei University Health System (YUHS) are a point of pride for the University. The year 2006 was announced “The Year of Customer Satisfaction and Innovation,” in keeping with the founding spirit of the hospital, and YUHS was ranked 1st in service improvement among university hospitals in the NCSI evaluation. The Severance Children’s Hospital was opened to provide more specialized medical service for children. And, to strengthen global networking, Yonsei concluded an MOU with NYP Hospital in the US, whose branch will open in the Inchon Free Economic Zone, and also a sisterhood agreement with MD Anderson Cancer Center. Finally, as a part of its efforts to achieve global standards, YUHS is undergoing evaluation for JCI (Joint Commissions International) accreditation. Our Wonju Campus has made huge advancements in attracting highly qualified students. For the first time in Korea, it has implemented a residential college system, which we believe will create one of the best academic environments in the nation. New additions to the Wonju Campus will include a long-awaited Church, a high-tech laboratory complex, and an administrative service building. Dear members of the Yonsei Family, To create a better academic environment, we have plans for new additions to the Seoul Campus. There will be a new School of Business building, a second International House (residential quarters for international students), a new engineering building, and a new student welfare building; in addition, there are plans for a substantial extension of the College of Sciences building. As mentioned above, a high-tech laboratory complex is under way in Wonju. Other efforts are being made to improve the academic environment. In particular, we are providing special administrative support for the School of Business and the College of Law. We also have plans for a biomedical college. To enhance our quality of education, we will be hiring more full-time instructors; and to accelerate 'inbound' globalization, we will try our utmost to attract international faculty and students. For a successful completion of the 2nd-Stage BK21 project, we will pay particular attention to globalization and global networking. These objectives coincide with our own "Global 5-5-10," a project to identify and support academic fields where our core capacities lie. Of these, two key areas have already been identified: Korean and East Asian Studies, and Biomedical Science. The war for talent in our society is getting fiercer every day. To move forward, Yonsei must strengthen its research and educational potential by hiring the most promising young scholars and researchers. We must also invite world-class researchers to join our ranks. Qualitative evaluation should supplement quantitative evaluation, if we were truly to judge the depth as well as length of our faculty's achievements. In addition, demand for research that has commercial and industrial applicability, such as can produce patents, must also be taken into consideration. Dear members of the Yonsei Family, We must all strive to promote a spirit of innovation. We have made great strides in improving services in our Shinchon and Wonju campuses, as well as in the Yonsei University Health System. And we must continue to make improvements in accordance to the founding spirit of the University, which is to serve our neighbors. All offices and departments have been asked to make better use of budgets by implementing MBO (management by objectives) and operating on zero-based budgeting. In order to make the Seoul Campus safer and more conducive to study, a block of Baekyang-ro (Baekyang Street) between the Eagle Statue and the Main Library will become a car-free zone. We hope that students, faculty, staff, alumni, and parents alike will appreciate the changes we are making and be morally and financially supportive. It is time for us to show our love for Yonsei and to start believing that a better Yonsei will result in a better nation. International competitiveness of Yonsei University Health System (YUHS) depends on the level of research accomplished in the long run. A variety of options, including external consulting, will be considered in order to achieve global research competitiveness. The construction of YUHS's Jong-hab Hall is progressing favorably, and we are trying to move up the date to begin construction of the Cancer Hospital. Renovation of the Young-dong Severance Hospital and construction of the new Yongin Dong-baek Severance Hospital will be given high priority, in accordance to the Yonsei University Health System master plan. Efforts to make Wonju Campus competitive will continue. The residential college program and construction of new buildings are proceeding according to the plan. And long-term development plans for Wonju Medical School and Hospital will take shape within the year. With one mind, one hope, we will build the Yonsei Songdo Global Academic Complex-a huge academic zone accommodating a global campus and a science park-which will become the hub of education and research in East Asia. We expect our Songdo Global Academic Complex to play a major role in making the Incheon Free Economic Zone the new center of East Asia, and also in strengthening Korea's role in world politics and economy. Dear members of the Yonsei Family, Yonsei is a university with high standards of education and research, ready to compete with the best of universities throughout the world. And yet it is much more than this; it is God's institution, whose founding spirit remains very strong. The challenging spirit, the pioneering soul, and the indomitable will of the founders have been passed down to us, and we continue in the founding spirit to serve our neighbors. Let us all join hands in fulfilling our mission to make Yonsei stand proud in this world. May you all find God's blessing and grace in this New Year.

January 1, 2007 Yonsei University President Jung Chang-Young