[Meet the President] Sogang's president wants to create a 'metaversity'

K-campus

Published: 28 Jun. 2022, 14:00 Updated: 03 Mar. 2023, 14:46

[Meet the President] Sogang's president wants to create a 'metaversity'

Father Luke Sim Jong-hyeok, president of Sogang University, seeks to infuse innovation into every corner of the campus. [PARK SANG-MOON]

As head of Korea’s only Jesuit university, Father Luke Sim Jong-hyeok never settles. In a fast-paced world, basking in past success leads to nothing but failure, he says.

“Sogang University used to be famous for English,” said Sim. “But now, being good in English isn’t necessarily something to brag about because there are so many people who can speak the language fluently.”

To maintain Sogang University’s prestigious status, the school has tried to implement many innovative programs over the years, such as one that allows students to design their own majors and curriculums.

After the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, Sim has his eye on creating a metaverse campus — or what he calls a “metaversity.”

The Korea JoongAng Daily recently sat down with Sim in his office in Mapo District, western Seoul, to hear about Sogang University’s globalization strategy and plans for the future.

The following are excerpts from the interview.

What’s Sogang University’s globalization strategy?

Today, we have students from nearly 80 different countries on campus who, all in all, account for a tenth of our entire student body. Sogang University was founded in 1960 by the Society of Jesus, which over the past five centuries established many world-renowned universities including Georgetown, Boston College and Japan’s Sophia University. Capitalizing on our strong network with Jesuit universities worldwide, we try to design various types of programs involving the exchange of students, building a platform on which they can improve their global competitiveness. For instance, Sogang has jointly run an online course with Sophia University on the subject of college education in East Asia for several years. The course is conducted on Zoom and in English. During seasonal breaks, our students visit each other’s countries for cultural exchanges. Through our Global Leadership Program and Service Learning Program, our students get together with other Jesuit universities from around the region every summer to discuss critical world issues and carry out volunteer work.

Park Chan-wook, a Sogang alumnus who majored in philosophy, celebrating his Best Director award for "Decision to Leave" at this year’s Cannes Film Festival in Cannes on May 28 [NEWS1]

For those who are unfamiliar with Sogang, how would you say your school is different from other Korean universities?

We’re big on convergent studies. In 2012, we were the first Korean university to establish a College of Integrated Knowledge, and since then, we’ve been cultivating talent across humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, engineering and arts through various convergent studies, including the Global Korean Studies Major and the Art & Technology Major. All our students are encouraged to study double or triple majors across different fields, or even design their own majors of convergent studies. Apart from this, we also take artificial intelligence (AI) very seriously, which is why every student has to take at least 12 credits of basic AI knowledge courses.

What do you mean by students designing their own majors of convergent studies?

Since 1998, we’ve allowed students to design their own majors and curriculums. Let’s say a student wants to major in “science communication” but the school doesn’t have that major. Then that student can design his or her own “Major of Science Communication” curriculum and ask the school for approval. So far, the school has approved some 130 convergent majors, including cinema humanities, visual storytelling, big data marketing and virtual reality content.

The university’s iconic Albatross tower, which symbolizes "flying the highest and seeing the farthest in the world" [SOGANG UNIVERSITY]

What impact did the Covid-19 pandemic have on your school?

I think we came out realizing the importance of four key elements: English, online infrastructure, state-of-the-art studies and industrial cooperation. With English, we want to increase English-language courses and establish an “international college” on campus, allowing high-performing foreigners to come to our school and earn a degree. Second, we’re improving our online educational infrastructure to cooperate with worldwide universities through the web. In regards to pursuing state-of-the-art studies, we recently established the major of System Semiconductor Engineering at the undergraduate level with the help of SK hynix. At the postgraduate level, we established Korea’s first professional graduate school specializing in the metaverse, and the Department of Artificial Intelligence in our general graduate school. In terms of industrial cooperation, we’ve been chosen by the government this year to receive special funding to carry out various next-generation research projects. These four key elements will go together.

An aerial view of the school campus in Mapo District, western Seoul [SOGANG UNIVERSITY]

What’s an international college?

We’re in the works of establishing an international college that teaches all courses in English. Most students will be foreigners, with a small portion being Korean. We’re thinking about starting with a Korean education major, a Korean studies major, and then keep adding other studies.

Are there any benefits offered to international students at Sogang?

We provide various scholarships to help international students focus on their studies. More than 60 percent of all international students currently receive scholarships at Sogang. There are also courses exclusively for international students that help them better understand the Korean language and culture. The language courses are modeled after programs at the Sogang University Korean Language Education Center, which produces its own textbooks and annually attracts some 4,000 students from 80 different countries. To help with finding jobs, we offer separate employment support programs from the ones offered to Korean students.

Pope Francis on a surprise visit to the school on Aug. 15, 2014, during a five-day trip to Korea [SOGANG UNIVERSITY]

What do you mean by separate employment programs?

We invite HR officials from major companies who are in charge of recruiting foreigners to give briefings on ways to get employed at their companies. We also organize other programs educating international students about the industries they’re interested in, and invite international students who graduated from Sogang and went on to find jobs here to come back to the campus to suggest tips for those who wish to follow in their footsteps.

A nativity scene, annually arranged near the Albatross Tower in time for Christmas [SOGANG UNIVERSITY]

What’s your ideal image of a globalized campus and what’s left to achieve that goal?

The globalized campus we envision is one where all members of the school voluntarily practice globalization because they genuinely need to, not simply because other schools are pursuing globalization or because they feel pressured to pursue globalization to help the school get a higher score on the globalization category of college rankings. Globalization should be a means, not an end. For this to work, we need to create an environment where Koreans and non-Koreans can freely exchange their thoughts and cooperate with each other to fulfill shared goals.

Inside the university's Saint Ignatius House, named after Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus [SOGANG UNIVERSITY]

What’s Sogang University’s plan for the future?

In a nutshell, we hope to create a globalized ecosystem through continuous innovation. Sogang University will strive to become a “metaversity” that uses metaverse technology to lead the new educational paradigm and cooperate with the business sector to create content for our metaverse platform. Our metaverse campus will be designed as a virtual digital campus that overcomes all physical constraints. On top of revolutionizing our lecture rooms and labs, professors and students alike will have to undergo massive changes in the way they deliver and obtain knowledge. Second, we plan to establish a “global center” to systemize and diversify our academic, management and support programs for international students. The system will ideally help us better support all international students coming to Sogang so they can go on making a positive impact on the world stage.

President’s bio

Father Luke Sim Jong-hyeok is the 16th president of Sogang University and a professor of theology. His four-year term as head of the school began in February 2021.

Sim entered the Society of Jesus in Korea in February 1978 and was ordained a priest in July 1987. Throughout the years, he played many key roles on campus, including as dean of the Graduate School of Sogang University and as executive vice president of academic affairs.

Sim earned his bachelor’s in physics and master’s in theoretical physics at Sogang University, and received his master of divinity at the Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He holds a licentiate in sacred theology degree with distinction from the Weston Jesuit School of Theology, and a doctor of sacred theology degree from the Pontifical Gregorian University, magna cum laude, in Rome.

About the university

Name
Sogang University

Type
Private

Established
April 18, 1960

English slogan
Be as proud of Sogang as Sogang is proud of you.

Location
Mapo District, western Seoul

Campus size
242,091 square meters (59.82 acres)

Undergraduate colleges and majors
Colleges: 7
Majors: 25

Graduate schools
12

Students (2021)
Undergraduates: 11,949
Postgraduates: 3,535
Total: 15,484

Academic staff (2021)
1,118

Administrative staff (2021)
290

Employment rate (2021)
73.8 percent

English website
wwwe.sogang.ac.kr

Social media
Instagram: @sogang_university/
YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/soganguniv
Facebook: www.facebook.com/soganguniversity/

International students

Number of students (2021)
Undergraduates: 1,058
Postgraduates: 463
Short-term students (language learning, exchange program): 543
Total: 2,064

By country (2021)
China 54.4 percent
United States 5.4 percent
Vietnam 4.6 percent
Other: 35.6 percent (77 countries)

Department with the most international students (2021)
School of Business Administration
School of Media, Arts, and Science

Dormitory acceptance rate (2019)
17.28 percent

Average tuition of self-funded undergraduate students per semester (2022)
4,825,600 won ($3,700)

Instagram about international student admissions
@sogang_univ_admission

BY LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]