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Interview - The 2nd inauguration anniversary of President Jang Young-Soo
WRITER 대외협력과 WRITE DAY 2022-12-28
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Interview - The 2nd inauguration anniversary of President Jang Young-Soo
대외협력과 2022-12-28 479

“We will leap forward as a global university centered on high-tech convergence studies”

- celebrating the 2nd anniversary of Jang Young-Soo's inauguration, PKNU embarks on a second starting following the innovation of a specialized university

 

“Pukyong National University, which has been around 100 years since its founding, has been reborn as a specialized comprehensive university that leads the high-tech academics by constantly innovating based on its infinite potential. Celebrating the next 100 years, we will make a powerful leap forward for the second founding of a global university.”

 

Pukyong National University's 7th President Jang Young-Soo, who had an inauguration ceremony in November 2020, has reached the second anniversary of his inauguration. Based on the achievements of the past two years, President Jang emphasized unwavering challenge and innovation for the remaining two years of his term of office and for the future development of the university.

 

President Jang stressed in his inauguration address, “We, Pukyong National University, need to take ‘new beginning’ as our new vision to overcome the era of crisis, and must take on a ‘strong challenges’ to put it into practice. I will achieve innovation based on liberty and creativity for ‘innovative starting’. I will set goals to restore liberty in education and administration and realize creative education, research, and administration.”

 

Based on this vision, Pukyong National University has undergone many remarkable innovations over the past two years. Representatively, the undergraduate organization has been extensively reorganized, such as the establishment of AI, bio, and big data convergence majors, and an education and research system for convergence studies centered on high-tech industries has been established. Our university's industry-university-institute exchanges and cooperation have expanded significantly, and exchanges and cooperation in the field of higher education have gone beyond regional and national boundaries to the world stage. During rapidly changing external conditions, we will look through specific achievements over the past two years and future challenges through interviews.

 

▷ What are the achievements and future directions of our university in responding to rapidly changing educational fields such as COVID-19 and high-tech industries?

- Innovative classes will be greatly expanded … leading the high-tech industries such as semiconductors and secondary batteries following structure renovation of the academic affairs

 

Universities across the country, which are at the forefront of higher education, responded promptly to the situation, and Pukyong National University also turned ‘crisis into opportunity’ with innovative and anticipative moves. President Jang Young-Soo said, “I believe that it was effective not only to build an online infrastructure that can support full-scale online classes, but also to innovate in the digital field to maximize the results of online education.”

 

Pukyong National University decided to drastically expand innovative classes, such as a mixture of in-person and virtual classes, to one-third, rather than only offering classes online. In addition, it preemptively responded by introducing the metaverse platform. The university fulfilled its responsibility as a national university by cooperating with the local community by supporting not only classes but also the operation of the treatment centers in Busan.

 

△ The signboard ceremony for the college of information technology and convergence

 

 

Then, how is Pukyong National University currently responding to a situation where the cycle of spread, decrease, and resurgence of COVID-19 repeating? President Jang stressed, “To overcome the chaotic and difficult conditions, all of us must gather our capabilities to actively respond to new environmental changes and make a concerted effort to prepare for a new future beyond the present.” The effort was visualized as a major innovation in the academic organization. He added, “In addition to the newly established college of information technology centered on high-tech convergence studies and undergraduate college leading liberal arts education, and our university's traditional strengths in basic studies can become a greater advantage, 14 interdisciplinary majors and convergence majors, and 15 student-designed majors, 21 new micro majors were established to lay the groundwork to lead the future of our industry and nation through student-centered curriculum design.”

 

Following these innovative efforts, excellent results followed in various external evaluations. Last year, Pukyong National University recorded the first entry into the world university rankings hosted by QS, a British university evaluation agency. Ranked tied for 31st among Korean universities. Among the evaluation indicators, papers that objectively show the university's research capabilities received the highest score in terms of the number of citations. Following this, in the university evaluation hosted by the Joong-Ang Ilbo this year, it ranked 16th in the number of citations per paper in natural sciences international journals, which shows performance in the field of basic science, and 14th in the category of profit through industry-university cooperation per professor of science and technology. Pukyong National University’s research expenditure per faculty member was 147.6 million won in the category of outstanding universities receiving off-campus research funding locally, which was higher than the average of universities in the Gyeongsang provinces (64.06 million won) as well as the average of universities in the Gyeonggi-Incheon (84.69 million won). This is the result of active support for research in connection with the local community.

 

 

By pushing such innovation, Pukyong National University plans to take another leap forward. Currently, it is promoting the establishment of semiconductor-related departments and graduate schools in a preemptive response to national policies, and fostering semiconductor experts in the southeast area, including Busan.

 

Pukyong National University plans to create a synergy effect in cultivating talents in the high-tech industry and industrial development by establishing new departments such as energy fields such as secondary batteries, marine mobility, and digital finance, as well as semiconductors

 

▷ What are the noticeable changes in facility infrastructure such as buildings?

- Launching of new training ship Baek-Kyung, construction of Changeui building and marine leisure center, etc.

 

People who visit Pukyong National University after a long time are surprised to see the campus. The reason is that the school has changed beyond recognition. The campus area has emerged as the center of the university district, and the campus is being renewed from moment to moment. President Jang Young-Soo said, “It is never too much to stress the importance of expanding infrastructure, which is the basis of numerous activities of universities. Especially, Pukyong National University is doing its best to provide facilities and equipment if it can improve the quality of education for students.”

 

 

‘Baek-Kyung’, the largest training ship in the fisheries industry, went into service last year, and the ‘campus on the sea’ weighing 3,997 tons began full-scale operation. Baek-Kyung will play a pivotal role in the growth and prosperity of Korea, which dreams of becoming a maritime power in the 21st century, nurturing future experts while traveling to every corner of the world's oceans.

 

 

The library has also changed dramatically. Through the remodeling, the Cheongun center has been transformed into an open study and rest space with a study lounge and an open reading room. The academic information center, where the library is located, is also under construction to transform it into a complex cultural space for students. The 5th floor will be divided into a complex cultural exhibition hall displaying video media, study rooms, open reading space, study caf?, and internet caf?. Here, various bio-health facilities such as a swimming pool, water safety education pool, fitness center, equipment, and space for research in the smart health field, and a marine leisure center where clinical trials can be conducted have been built. In addition, there is newly opened Changeui building, which has a complex educational space such as a research room and a seminar room.

 

‘Baekyong Square’, located in the center of the campus, has been turned into a pedestrian-only space for members of Puyong National University. In the past, this space, which was used as a forest, pedestrian path, and vehicle passage, was created as a pedestrian only street and a space for rest, communication, and local festivals. The name of Baekyong Square was decided through a contest in campus. Like as Baekyong, the representative symbol of Pukyong National University, it is a space containing the spirit of Pukyong that pursues infinite freedom and truth, and it is said to contain the hope that students will travel around the world.

 

A significant facility will also be at the institute of fisheries sciences on the Gijang campus. It is the ‘smart firming cluster test bed’ that can farm 500 tons of Atlantic salmon annually, which began construction this year.

 

 

▷ What are the major fulfillment of the inaugural pledges?

- Research expenses greatly increased from 59.7 billion won in 2021 to 118.4 billion won in 2022

 

President Jang Young-Soo explained, “If you focus on the 10 pledges that I mentioned, you will find that the foundation has been laid so that professors can focus on research and teaching.” A representative achievement is the advancement and minimization of the achievement evaluation system, such as shortening the number of years for service required to apply for a research year, removing the limit on the number of years of research, establishing a new two-year research year, and revising the achievement evaluation guidelines. To expand lecture autonomy and students' autonomy in lecture evaluation, the provision on the mandatory number of lecture days per week was abolished, and relative and absolute evaluation discretion was also granted. In preparation for the rapidly changing society, infrastructure such as systems and facilities for online lectures was also prepared.

 

As an alternative task for the budget increase, which must be approved by the ministry of education, an academic research promotion project is being discovered to promote research. The subsidy was greatly increased from 2.56 billion won in 2020 to 3.74 billion won in 2021 and 4.24 billion won in 2022 by significantly newly establishing expenses for participation in international academic conferences, rewards for publishing papers and books, and support funds. Regarding the case of increasing educational research and student guidance expenses, it is also continuing to promote welfare programs for teachers.

 

 

President Jang stressed, “We have also established a systematic capacity building system for students' career and future. A student competency development department was newly established, and an integrated operating system for non-subjects and career management system was established to provide various information and student competency management as a one-stop service.” Pukyong National University started offering programs such as global competency building training and foreign language learning to help faculty and staffs to increase their work capacity and efficiency.

 

The expansion of finances stands out among them. As a result of not only expanding existing financial support projects by forming a TFT for financial expansion and setting detailed goals and plans, but also actively securing new resources and improving various systems, the entire university budget has increased from 49.8 billion won in 2019 to 82.6 billion this year. It is the result of Pukyong National University's good performance in various national projects, as well as its hard work for technology transfer and development fund, as well as for the expansion of facilities and equipment. In terms of research expenses alone, it was found that it has succeeded in securing research project expenses of KRW 118.4 billion this year, up from KRW 59.7 billion in 2021.

 

Infrastructure expansion, such as space improvement, is also underway throughout the campus. For spatial integration of the college, Pukyong National University is promoting the expansion of the building for the college of humanities and social science business administration, and the 2nd building for the college of fisheries science (tentatively named), the administration office for the college of information technology and convergence (tentatively named), and the new construction of high-tech laboratory. In addition, the Yongdang campus is being developed as a specialized campus for industry-university-research cooperation in name and reality by expanding space for resident companies and start-ups.

 

President Jang Young-Soo said, “As explained, 38 of the 73 key tasks in the category of education, research, administration, finance, campus, welfare, industry-university cooperation, and international exchange to achieve the 10 pledges have been completed, and the remaining 35 tasks are in progress.”

 

▷ For the next two years, what business are you trying to focus on?

- Advancement and systematization of education and research support … leading regional development through cooperative projects between local governments and universities

 

President Jang Young-Soo said, “Based on the achievements so far, we will not only strengthen continuous support for education and research, but also do our best to lay a solid foundation for another leap forward by upgrading and systematizing various systems.” The school intensively supports the research of professors and graduate students. It transfers know-how for new faculty members to win research projects and provides on-the-go research support services. Papers published in international journals will be subsidized without limit on the number of editions, and the English translation service support project will be expanded. To attract and support excellent graduate students, scholarships for those who have completed the undergraduate and master's combined undergraduate and graduate programs and those who have advanced to graduate school will be also expanded.

 

The next university assessment is also a key factor. After passing the evaluation index of Korean university last year, Pukyong National University is preparing preemptive measures for the next university assessment scheduled to be announced in December. The university plans to prepare in advance by item by analyzing policy trends and best practices of other universities as well as analysis of previous assessment. When a specific plan is announced, the Pukyong National University will thoroughly prepare for it by holding briefing sessions and consulting internally and externally.

 

Pukyong National University expands cooperation between local governments and regional universities to lead regional development through coexistence with the local community as well as university development as a regional university, which is a great pillar of regional development. Based on Pukyong National University's strengths in advanced academic fields, as well as continuous exchanges through consultative bodies such as innovation networks among national universities in Busan, through digital innovation sharing universities, regional leading university projects, resource-specialized universities, and semiconductor major track projects, Pukyong National University will strive for both university and regional development. In addition, it plans to attract national research institutes and global companies to the Yongdang campus to establish its status as a specialized campus for industry-academia-institute cooperation.

 

The university will also strengthen its global positioning that extends beyond the region to the world. President Jang Young-Soo, who recently conferred an honorary doctorate on the speaker of the Indonesian national assembly and signed academic exchange agreements with eight Indonesian universities at once, said, “This will not only elevate exchanges and cooperation between Korea and Indonesia to the next level, but also serve as an opportunity for Pukyong National University to become active as a university centered on developing higher education in Southeast Asia and fostering global leaders.” As of October, this year, the number of foreign students reached a record high of 1,768, and the university plans to actively carry out support activities to attract outstanding international students, such as government scholarship students.

 

▷ The minister of education has been appointed, what is Pukyong National University’s next move?

- To nurture talents who will lead digital innovation that will lead to future change … to strengthen communication among members

 

The importance of education is being emphasized more and more in the context of social changes such as rapid demographic and industrial changes. Lee Joo-Ho, the minister of education also emphasized ‘education reform’ in his inaugural address. President Jang Young-Soo said, “We will lead change and innovation through education rather than keeping pace with the modern digital transformation.” For this, he decided to start fostering talents who will lead digital innovation in the world's competition to preoccupy cutting-edge science and technology. As hegemonic race among countries to preoccupy high-tech science and technology is heating up, his idea is to systematically operate educational courses to cultivate talents in national strategic industries such as semiconductors and digital, and to expand and support related research. Through this, it is expected that the synergy effect will be maximized through the convergence of Pukyong National University's traditional basic studies and specialized studies.

 

 

President Jang Young-Soo said, “I have been running without making a pause for the innovation of our university by reorganizing the academic organization and expanding research support. Now, on this solid foundation we built, I will do my best for the rest of my term so that all members and educational participants can communicate together and change and leap forward for real progress of our university.” <Pukyong Today>