Pukyong National University

University students joined local small business digital marketing, sales went up dramatically- PKNU students won excellence awards in digital marketing activities organized by Naver and the Korea advertising society△ Three Pukyong National University students, including Kim Na-Young (center), posing for a commemorative photo after receiving the certificate of commendation for outstanding supporters.  Students of Pukyong National University (President Jang Young-Soo) supported digital marketing of local small businesses and more than doubled their sales, attracting attention as a successful case of local win-win cooperation. The team of Kim Na-Young (3-year student, business administration) Kim Na-Hyeon (4-year student, Korean language and literature), and Kim Na-Rim (4-year student, Korean language and literature) of Pukyong National University recently received the outstanding supporters award at the ‘special seminar on digital advertising' held by Naver, the Korea advertising society, the Korean association of AD & PR, and the Korean society for consumer and adverting psychology. The students from Pukyong National University were recognized for their outstanding achievements through the ‘SME digital marketing supporters’, which was carried out by Naver and these three societies last year to help local small business owners digitally transform. Pukyong National University students joined hands with Ido company (Weekenders, ceo Kim Byeong-Gyu), a company specializing in camping tents in Busan. A student team came forward to support digital marketing for this small business, which has excellent products but lacks marketing experience and manpower. In November of last year, in just one month, they conducted ‘live commerce (real-time broadcast sales)’ three times through the platform provided by Naver, and raised sales of over 23 million won. It was a great achievement that sales grew more than twice compared to before running live commerce. Pukyong National University students hosted live commerce outdoors with ceo from Ido company and demonstrated tent installation, drawing positive responses from viewers. Their live commerce shows that about 1,600 people watched each broadcast. They designed a project for effective digital marketing activities through ‘content marketing (prof. Kim Jung-Hwan)’, a regular course in transdisciplinary studies on human ICT at Pukyong National University, and received advice from professors to enhance the support effect. Kim Byeong-Gyu, ceo from Ido company said, “I think it was a good opportunity to increase sales through the support of students in digital marketing, which I thought was difficult, and to lay the foundation for establishing a long-term strategy for digital marketing.” Professor Kim Jung-Hwan (transdisciplinary studies on human ICT) from Pukyong National University, who supported the activity, said, “Through this activity, students directly carried out digital marketing activities for business operators, and local small business owners could take a step forward by confirming the possibility of digital transformation. We will continue to make efforts to create examples of win-win cooperation.”

Lee Ye-Chan, a researcher from PKNU, won the ‘best paper award’ at the SPIE international conference 2023- received ‘BSC best Paper award’ for research on anti-cancer and phototherapy technology using light△ Researcher Lee Ye-Chan (center) and Lim Seong-Hee (left) and Shin Hwa-Rang working on a master’s degree. ⓒPhoto Lee Sung-Jae (PR team) Pukyong National University (President Jang Young-Soo) announced that researcher Lee Ye-Chan (doctor, biomedical engineering) from the Marine-integrated biomedical technology center received the best thesis award ten-thousand-dollar prize from Boston scientific, a global specialized company, at an international academic conference hosted by the International society for optics and photonics (SPIE). Researcher Lee recently presented his thesis ‘research on a diffusing applicator-based interstitial photodynamic therapy for a locally advanced prostate cancer’ (advisory Prof. Kang Hyun-Wook, biomedical engineering) at the Photonics west 2023 hosted by SPIE held in San Francisco, USA, and received an excellent evaluation at the conference. Lee drew attention from the academic world by defining the results of research on large-area optical transport technology that maximizes the effects of anticancer and photodynamic therapy using light. In this research, he irradiated light on prostate cancer cells and xenograft animals using micropatterning-based diffuse optical fiber capable of transmitting light uniformly at 360 degrees. As a result, he discovered that it promotes the expression of cancer cell natural death-inducing factors, and consequently, enables light treatment of a wide area. With the support from the key research institutes for universities support project in the science and engineering field (senior researcher, prof. Jung Won-Kyo) and the Korea medical device development fund, which is a governmental department (senior researcher, ceo Kim Seong-Min from Bluecore company), Lee conducted this research with Lim Seong-Hee and Shin Hwa-Rang in their master’s at the department of industry 4.0 convergence bionics engineering and obtained outstanding results for this research. Lee was recognized for his excellence as a researcher registered a total of 15 papers, including 6 papers published as the lead author of the SCI level, and registered 1 patent through his research and development on optical transport device and photobiomodulation for disease-specific therapy. As for the SPIE, founded in 1955, is the world's most authoritative society in the field of optoelectronics, with more than a quarter of a million cumulative members from 183 countries. About 4,500 papers were introduced at this conference, and 60 people, including researcher Lee, were selected as winners. △ Optical therapy using diffuse optical fiber

PKNU set out to discuss on the ‘role of universities’ with local middle and high schools- on the 17th, ‘meeting with invited principals of middle and high schools’ held, 34 middle and high schools in Busan participated△ President Jang Young-Soo and 34 middle and high school principals and other invited attendees of the meeting are taking a commemorative photo. ⓒPhoto Lee Sung-Jae (PR team)  On the morning of March 17, Pukyong National University (President Jang Young-Soo) held a ‘meeting to discuss the role of the university and cooperation plans with invited principals from middle and high schools in the local community’ on the first floor of the Dongwon Jang Bogo hall. Principals from 34 middle and high schools in Nam-gu and Suyeong-gu in Busan attended the event, which was held to discuss and share the role and cooperation plans of universities, such as the development of the local community and the cultivation of local talent. Amidst the recent spread of requests that universities should become a base for fostering convergence and creative talents and leading innovation and development of the local community, Pukyong National University preemptively prepared this event as a central national university in the Busan area. Starting with the introduction of this year's freshman recruitment results, Pukyong National University made a presentation on the role of the university, including the development plan for the university in connection with the local community and the introduction of each college's projects for middle and high school students. Pukyong National University introduced educational donation programs such as high school summer and winter schools, middle school camps and exploration classes to the participants, as well as university student volunteering activities for local youth, and received favorable responses at the meeting. At the meeting, suggestions for universities, including Pukyong National University, were collected, and participants discussed ways to cooperate between universities and middle and high schools to nurture local talent. While actively reflecting the opinions of local middle and high schools collected on this day in university management and talent development programs, Pukyong National University plans to request the Office of education and the Ministry of education to reflect them in education policies. President Jang Young-Soo said, “I expect that today's meeting will serve as an opportunity for close communication with local middle and high school teachers who teach our students wonderfully and send them to university,” he added, “We, Pukyong National University, as the first specialized university in Busan, will work together with the local community to further cooperate and strive to nurture excellent talents.”  △ △ President Jang Young-Soo giving a greeting at the meeting.△ Park Chan-Ho, director of the planning strategy department, presenting on the role of universities.△ President Jang Young-Soo during the meeting.△ The meeting is in progress, including listening to suggestions.△ President Jang Young-Soo introducing the facilities of the marine leisure center to the attendees of the meeting.

PKNU received the ‘top grade’ in the evaluation of the support project for training creative convergence engineering experts- obtained good results for training expert in the next-generation IoT home appliances△ An engineering laboratory in Pukyong National University The innovation center for engineering education of Pukyong National University (director Sohn Min-Young) announced that it received the highest grade (excellent) in the stage assessment in 2022 of the ‘support project for training creative convergence engineering experts’ supervised by the Korea institute for advancement of technology (KIAT) in the Ministry of trade, industry, and energy (MOTIE). In this stage assessment conducted for 13 consortiums and 73 universities, Pukyong National University was recognized for its contribution for fostering creative engineering talents by developing and operating engineering education programs that meet the needs of the industry and the characteristics of universities, including the establishment of innovation directions for engineering education in the college of engineering. The innovation center for engineering education of Pukyong National University ranked number one in the ‘IoT home appliances’, industry field of ‘next generation lifestyle’ in the creative convergence type engineering talent training support project organized and operated by a consortium for each industry field in March, last year. Pukyong National University, Pusan national university, Gyeongsang national university, Tongmyong university, Dongseo university, and Inje university participated in the consortium, and it will operate by February 2028 with support of about 8.4 billion won from the government, universities, and local governments with the goal of ‘innovative succession planning for IoT-based DX home appliance intelligence’. Sohn Min-Young, center director of Pukyong National University said, “Taking the excellent assessment we received this time as an opportunity, we will continue to strive to foster creative and convergent engineering talents and develop the college of engineering. Also, to achieve the consortium's common goal, we will provide quality education and strive to nurture regional talents who can respond to the new industries in the future.” As for the selection, the innovation center for engineering education of Pukyong National University was selected consecutively for this project, following the first stage in 2007 (for 5 years), the second stage in 2012 (10 years), and the third stage in 2022 (6 years), for 2018, 2020, and 2021, the university was selected as the university of the year (ranked top) by the innovation center for engineering education for southeast region and selected as the innovative engineering education contributor in 2022 (organization sector), received a commendation from the Minister of trade, industry and energy, taken together, Pukyong National University is contributing to training engineering talent and enhancing the global competitiveness of engineering education.

PKNU library transmogrified into an ‘open learning space’ for a new academic session greeting- the media studio and VR experience zone remodeled△ A view of the open lounge on the first floor of the academic information center. ⓒPhoto Lee Sung-Jae (PR team) During last winter vacation, Pukyong National University library (director Kim Cheol-Soo) integrated and remodeled three individual learning spaces on the first floor of the academic information center into one open space and opened it to students in time for the first semester beginning. This space, named ‘open lounge’, has been transformed into a pleasant and open cafe-style learning space by placing enough distance between desks and providing seats near the window equipped with electrical outlets for portable laptops, attracting students’ attention since classes begin. Along with this, Pukyong National University actively reflected the recent changes in the learning environment and created a ‘media studio’ and a ‘VR experience zone’ on the 3rd floor. Media studios in three spaces are equipped with system for shooting, editing, chroma keying, and lighting to provide an environment where students can create and utilize video content themselves. In addition, the VR experience zone will be available in earnest from next month with gear where students can experience various virtual reality contents such as reading experiences, watching videos, and playing games through wearing VR devices. Pukyong National University library has improved convenience for students by allowing them to easily reserve and use new spaces such as media studios and VR experience zones, as well as existing 24-hour reading rooms and study rooms through a mobile reservation system. Kim Cheol-Soo, director of the library at Pukyong National University, said, “As learning tools and methods of use have recently been digitized, this space has been designed to fully reflect the tendency of students to concentrate well in a cozy atmosphere. We plan to continue to innovate this space so that the library can become the most familiar place for students.” △ The open lounge in the academic information center.△ Students and President Jang Young-Soo trying new VR contents. △ Students trying new media studio tools.

PKNU student team took 2nd place in the national stock and derivatives competition for university students by KRX- the team of Moon Young-Min, Seong Chang-Wook, Kim Soo-Heon, and Kim Yu-Jin received a 6 million won prize△ The students from Pukyong National University received the excellence award and posing for a commemorative photo with Sohn Byung-Doo (center), chairman of the Korea exchange.Students from Pukyong National University won the excellence award (awarded by chairman of Korea exchange), the second prize, at the 18th Korea exchange's recently held stock and derivatives competition for university students in Korea. The prize money is 6 million won. The student team of Moon Young-Min and Seong Chang-Wook from the major of computer engineering and Kim Soo-Heon, Kim Yu-Jin from the business administration won the excellence award together with Yonsei university in this competition where 31 teams from 25 universities nationwide participated. The Korea exchange has been holding this competition every year since 2005 to discover skilled experts in the capital market. It is conducted by evaluating research reports related to the stock and derivatives market submitted by a team of four university students. Pukyong National University students belonging to SIC, a stock investment club at Pukyong National University, participated under the name of the ‘value seeker’ team and presented on the theme of ‘development and application of automatic REITs valuation model (ARVM) using artificial intelligence’ (advisory professor Ahn Se-Ryoong, Kim Hoon-Hee) and received excellent reviews from evaluators. In this presentation, they pointed out that the main reason for the invigoration of the Korean public REIT market is that there is an information imbalance due to the lack of revaluation of incorporated assets and suggested the automated REITs valuation model (ARVM) as a solution. This model refers to a system that provides valuation information for commercial real estate incorporated into REITs by utilizing a large amount of commercial real estate transaction information collected through OpenAPI and various machine learning models. Especially, it is designed to indicate not only price information with explainable artificial intelligence (XAI), but also which factors machine learning reflects to derive the corresponding price. Moon Young-Min, who oversaw system development and implementation, explained, “In the process of proving the validity of the price of real estate inferred through research, we felt that there was an absolute lack of comparable time series in the REIT market, and it was hard to prove the accuracy of the model created with machine learning techniques. Through XAI, we were able to complete the project by properly reflecting the variables considered important in the actual market by the machine learning model.” Kim Yu-Jin said, “Taking this award as an opportunity, I will study harder to join a financial company including the Korea exchange. I also want to say thank you to my advisors who have helped me a lot.” Winners of the national stock and derivatives competition for university students receive preferential treatment in document screening when applying for jobs at the Korea exchange for the next five years.

‘Make your own major and obtain a degree’- PKNU opens 12 new majors designed by students this yearA system that allows students to create a major that did not exist before and receive a double major degree is attracting public attention. Pukyong National University (President Jang Young-Soo) has newly established 12 ‘student-designed majors’ in the curriculum for the 2023 academic year. ‘Student-designed interdepartmental major’ is a double major that college students complete in addition to their first major. While general double majors additionally complete an already designed major, a ‘student-designed interdepartmental major’ allows students to design their own curriculum, additionally complete a newly established major, and receive a double degree. After presenting three majors as standard models as a pilot project in 2020, Pukyong National University offered ‘media tech design’, a major designed by students for the first-time last year. This year, twelve new majors including public linguistics, Asian regional (Japan) diplomatic fusion research, foreign affairs administration, integrated science in maritime and fisheries, planning and management as a creator, biomedical engineering, integrated sport science, education designs, industrial and artificial intelligence convergence, artificial intelligence imaging engineering, creative integrated and applied engineering, biomimetics in artificial intelligence, which students applied for, were newly established and significantly expanded compared to last year. The characteristics of the 'student-designed interdepartmental major' are that it is possible to design a curriculum by combining subjects from two or more majors, and as it is directly designed according to the field of interest of each student, three or four different majors can be added to create a unique major that did not exist before. The ‘media tech design’, a major which was designed by students last year, was created by the convergence of subjects from three majors including transdisciplinary studies on human ICT, visual communication design, and international business administration. ‘Planning and management for a creator’, which is a student-designed major this year, was born from the convergence of majors including information and communications engineering, transdisciplinary studies on human ICT, and business administration. Meanwhile, the major of biomimetics in artificial intelligence is a student-designed major that crosses the majors of artificial intelligence convergence, computer engineering, biomedical engineering, and bioconvergence. ‘Student-designed major’ can be applied for by any student who has designed a major as well as any current student who wishes to complete it. 17 students have completed or are completing the ‘student-design major’ thus far. Pukyong National University will further vitalize the operation of a 'student-designed major' that can spread customized interdepartmental curriculum, such as providing design consulting on the curriculum in which professors and staff participate, or strengthening monitoring to support students successfully complete the course.

PKNU selected for lecture on FTA application support project by the Ministry of commerce, industry and energy- The division of international commerces offers lecture … receiving 10 million won in support including field education fee Pukyong National University (President Jang Young-Soo) is selected for the ‘lecture on FTA application university support project 2023’ by the Ministry of commerce, industry, and energy. The purpose of this project is to support the opening of regular lectures on FTA (free trade agreement) at universities to train practical manpower necessary for companies to utilize FTAs. As Pukyong National University is selected for this project, the university receives support of 10 million won this year, including field education expenses, and offers a new major lecture, ‘understanding and utilizing on FTA’ (prof. Yoo Jeong-Ho, photo), managed by the division of international commerces. The division of international commerces at Pukyong National University strengthens educational performance by directly matching companies and experts with students to enhance students' on-the-job training skills. Especially, the division plans to nurture global talents by strengthening job competency through customized education and on-the-job training to enhance students' major competencies.Professor Yoo Jeong-Ho (international commerces) said, “As the international trade environment rapidly changes and the need for professionals who can utilize FTAs expand, I expect that this project will provide students with hands-on education to develop their capabilities.”

PKNU selected as ‘university certified capacity for internationalization of education’ by MOE- for both academic curriculum and language courses△ A photo of the recently held orientation for foreign freshmen at Pukyong National University in the first semester of 2023. ⓒPhoto Lee Sung-Jae (PR team)Pukyong National University (President Jang Young-Soo) was selected for ‘international education quality assurance system in 2023’ by the Ministry of education. On March 3, as a result of the deliberation by the international education quality assurance committee of the Ministry of education, Pukyong National University achieved acquiring the accreditation for both academic curriculum and the language course. The effective period is three years from March 2023 to February 2026. The international education quality assurance system, implemented by the Ministry of education, is a system that grants certification after evaluating a university's capacity for internationalization and the level of management of foreign student support. With the illegal stay rate as the basic indicator, the academic curriculum is evaluated with key indicators such as the dropout rate of students, the tuition burden rate of foreign students, the rate of medical insurance coverage, and the certified language proficiency of international students (new students/enrolled students). The language training course is evaluated based on the tuition burden rate, the number of language trainees per class, the rate of medical insurance coverage, and the rate of acquiring Korean language teaching certifications as key indicators. Pukyong National University has been constantly receiving international education quality assurance system since its first accreditation in 2014 and is recognized as a university that has internationalized education with 1,661 (as of Oct. 2022) foreign students from 71 countries enrolling in degree courses, exchange students, and language courses. With this accreditation, Pukyong National University will receive benefits such as simplification of the visa issuance process for foreign students, e-visa issuance benefits for prospective graduate students, and preferential treatment for participating in the Study in Korea Fair abroad.

PKNU selected as the priority university for the university job plus center in 2023- provides systematic employment services for university students and youth△ The career and job fair held by Pukyong National University job plus center and related division last year at the gymnasium. ⓒPhoto Lee Sung-Jae (PR team)Pukyong National University (President Jang Young-Soo) has been selected as the priority university for the university job plus center in 2023. The university job plus center is a program supported by the Ministry of employment and labor to provide information on youth employment policies and carry out programs in connection with related organizations such as job centers and local governments, for not only university enrolled students and graduates, but also local youth. Since 2018, Pukyong National University has been operating the university job center, the predecessor of the project, and Pukyong National University will receive 300 million won of annual project support from the government for up to 5 years from March as the university was re-selected for this project. Pukyong National University job plus center will establish a delivery system that integrates and connects functions and infrastructure for employment support centered on the job center and will strengthen its capacity to support employment services specialized for young people to support employment. Accordingly, the center plans to improve and expand the operation of job fairs and job programs including career and employment counseling for enrolled students and local youth, employment mentoring for incumbents provided by the Pukyong career mentor group (graduated alumni), employment talk concerts for current employees, career exploration and career setting programs, and Governance-based job fairs and employment programs at local universities and related institutions that are highly popular with job seekers. The Ministry of employment and labor selected 11 universities in Korea, including Pukyong National University, as the priority joint universities for the university job plus center in 2023 and announced on February 27th.