In face of scandal,Yonsei stands up

Home > National > People

print dictionary print

In face of scandal,Yonsei stands up

Yonsei University just appointed a new president, Kim Han-joong. The JoongAng Daily interviewed him about the future, the scandals and the university’s image.

What do you want to accomplish the most during your term?
A university’s success depends on its professors. I want to focus on attracting top-notch professors to our school. In the past, professors would have been honored to be invited to teach at Yonsei. But these days, our professors are willing to leave the school or even the country if they receive a better offer.
Therefore, we have to do our best to retain our current talented professors and invite top researchers from outside. We designated four professors as “Underwood Professors” and gave them 30 million won ($31,690) yearly research grants in addition to their salaries. We hope to expand this program as well.

In a media interview, you said that Yonsei has reached its bottom. What do you mean by the remark?
I meant that it is time for our school to move forward. In terms of professors’ research accomplishments, the amount of outside research grants and other objective statistics, our school is actually better than our competitor [Korea University]. However, graduates [of Korea University] became the president-elect and Seoul mayors in two consecutive terms [Lee Myung-bak and Oh Se-hoon]. In terms of social leadership in political, business and legal sectors, our school’s reputation slightly fallen behind our competitor’s.
Also, an incident tainted our school’s image last year. [Former President Jung Chang-young resigned when his wife was accused of taking a bribe from a woman hoping to get her daughter into Yonsei.]

What do you think about that incident [that tainted the school’s image]?
The student was not admitted to our school, and the prosecution has not confirmed the charge against the former president’s wife. I don’t think it’s right to conclude that our school’s admission was corrupt. If even the president’s wife could not get a student admitted to our school, then who else can get bribe their way in? Still, I admit that our school’s reputation was damaged due to the widespread media coverage of the incident.

Korea University has planned to set up a campus in Los Angeles. How far has Yonsei’s plan for the Songdo Campus progressed?
Yonsei and Incheon’s city government signed a memorandum of understanding to open the campus in 2010. We will work in cooperation with the city to meet the deadline.
I don’t think building a campus outside the country has significant meaning in terms of a university’s globalization. Many foreign universities or research institutions, including University of California, Berkeley and the University of Texas’s M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, will set up branches near our Songdo campus.

How do you plan to invite foreign professors and students to Yonsei?
Like I said before, my foremost goal is to attract top professors to our school. It is not feasible to hire the world’s best professors as our full-time faculty members. Instead, we hope to invite them to teach in summer programs.
In terms of foreign students, our target is bright students from China, Vietnam and other Asian countries. Like many Korean scholars who have studied in the United States on scholarships provided by U.S. universities, these students will be able to study here on scholarship. One of our plans is to admit students recommended by Korean companies in Asian countries. In this situation, the companies will pay for students’ tuition.

President-elect Lee Myung-bak’s transition committee recently announced that one of its policies will provide universities autonomy in admissions. What is your reaction?
I totally welcome the decision. But from this point on, a university will have a bigger responsibility. If universities fail to manage their admission policies properly, the government may impose restrictions or guidelines on admissions again.

The media has often compared you and Lee Ki-su, the president of Korea University. How do you feel about that?
I think it’s funny. Actually, I met him yesterday at a meeting. The media is just trying to make a story by comparing us, but we are not competing with each other.

Kim Han-joong, 60, graduated from Yonsei University College of Medicine in 1974. Kim served as the president of the college’s student council. Kim majored in public health and has taught at the college of medicine since 1982. Kim served as vice president of the university, dean of the graduate school of public health and head of Yonsei University Extension.


[soejung@joongang.co.kr]
Log in to Twitter or Facebook account to connect
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
help-image Social comment?
s
lock icon

To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.

Standards Board Policy (0/250자)