KAIST board delays reform plan

The board of trustees at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology has delayed approving a reform plan drawn up by the school’s first foreign president, American Robert Laughlin. After a meeting yesterday, the board of the institute, known as KAIST, said that it “needed more time” to review the plans, but did not set a date for its next meeting. The board normally sets a date for its next meeting before it adjourns. At a press conference afterward, Mr. Laughlin said the board only had two days to review the plan, which was presented to them by a planning committee composed of the school’s professors and led by Mr. Laughlin. He added the committee typically is late in turning over proposals to the board, and that the plan would probably be passed in the next few weeks. The details of the so-called “Laughlin Plan” have not been publicized. Mr. Laughlin said yesterday the proposal to reform the leading technology university includes doubling the school’s non-Korean faculty to 15 percent using competitive salaries to attract renowned foreign professors. The school has about 30 foreign professors among a faculty of about 400. Other proposals include curriculum changes and adding classes in art, culture, business, medicine and law. The school will not create new majors, but add these courses to undergraduate programs so that science and engineering majors will be more well-rounded. Mr. Laughlin’s tenure has been marked by some tension over his plans to overhaul the school. After the physics Nobel laureate was appointed the school’s leader last July by the Science Ministry, students and professors alleged his reforms would not be feasible in Korea. Worries surfaced that he would abandon key functions at the school and introduce pre-med and pre-law departments. by Wohn Dong-hee