Yonsei President Gives Speech to The Korea Society “The role of universities has become more important than ever before—universities create new knowledge through research and spread that knowledge through education, thereby generating change in our knowledge-based society.” Yonsei President Jeong Kap-young recently spoke at The Korea Society on the important role of higher education in building a more creative Korean economy. The Korea Society is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting greater cooperation between Korea and the United States. In his speech, President Jeong stressed the need for dynamic, targeted education, as opposed to a standardized, mass education system. In past decades, he said, Korean higher education focused on “developing the labor force needed by industry.” But now, he emphasized, universities must respond to the needs of a creative economy: “Today’s rapid developments cannot be managed by the mass production of human resources alone. We need to cultivate creative global leaders who can support national growth.” And, he insisted, the best way to do this is by making higher education more dynamic and creative. President Jeong thus championed the “autonomous private university” model. In essence, such a model calls for the government to ease regulations on high-performing Korean universities, allowing them to be more genuinely autonomous. By enacting such measures the government “will permit universities to maximize their institutional autonomy, the result of which will be broader social and economic progress in Korea.” Yonsei University, he pointed out, has been taking actions to address social issues in Korea by providing support—e.g., through scholarships and its special enrollment program—for students who come from socially marginalized and economically disadvantaged backgrounds. “Yonsei University is determined to continue its development as a global university, representing Korea through its sustainable development model, which helps to address important social needs.”