[Meet the President] 'It's the experience that truly counts' at Sookmyung Women’s University

K-campus

Published: 10 Jul. 2022, 14:30 Updated: 03 Mar. 2023, 17:44

[Meet the President] 'It's the experience that truly counts' at Sookmyung Women’s University

“There’s still a lot of work to do for women’s universities,” says Sookmyung Women’s University President Chang Yun-keum — "still a lot of loopholes to close.” [PARK SANG-MOON]

Find a towel.
Soak it in water.
Keep it over your nose and mouth.
Hunker down.
Run to a family meeting spot.
Count how many people there are.
Search for anyone missing.

“That's how we practiced the fire drill,” recalled Chang Yun-keum, president of Sookmyung Women’s University. “Back when I was studying in America, my kids would bring the drill home as homework every single year and have the entire family practice what to do when a blaze breaks out.”

Decades later, it’s that annual fire drill that inspires Chang’s globalization strategy for her alma mater.

“It’s the experience that truly counts,” Chang told the Korea JoongAng Daily last month during an interview in her office in Yongsan District, central Seoul.

“My body — not my mind — remembers each step of the drill because I physically lived through the moments. That’s how I remember everything so vividly,” Chang stressed. “No education can beat that.”

As head of a women’s university in a country where gender conflict runs deep, Chang has tried to allow her students to travel abroad and experience the world outside Korea, whether through an internship, student exchange program, volunteer work, or even a mere walk around the office of a rising start-up.

It’s those simple yet crucial experiences that mold a global mindset, she said.

During the interview, Chang talked about her efforts to strengthen networks with overseas schools, institutes and companies, and what international students can expect at Sookmyung Women’s University once they enroll.

The following are excerpts from the interview.

For those who are not familiar with Sookmyung Women’s University, how would you introduce your school to prospective international students?

Some 110,000 people have graduated from Sookmyung ever since the university was founded 116 years ago. We’re the only four-year university in Yongsan District, at the heart of Seoul, making Seoul Station and Gwanghwamun Square all within walking distance. Even the presidential office is now a 10-minute drive from here. We’re big on global leadership and try to invite many influential people to talk about various world issues to our students. Since 2013, we’ve been running a course in which ambassadors’ spouses in Korea come to the campus to teach about their native countries.

An aerial view of the university [SOOKMYUNG WOMEN'S UNIVERSITY]

Ambassadors’ spouses actually come to teach a course? Or is it a series of special lectures?

About two to three ambassadors’ spouses are in full charge of the course every semester, and they take turns teaching. During the pandemic, we were lucky to have ambassadors themselves join, too, because the course was conducted via Zoom. The ambassadors of Pakistan, India and the Netherlands taught last semester. When I designed the program a decade ago, my goal was to have students meet people they can consider as their role models. These aren’t just ambassadors’ spouses. They were once doctors, teachers, professors, CEOs and pharmacists. In class, they talk about the challenges they face as a woman and what life is like in their home countries, so the course is really popular.

Chang discussing female empowerment with ambassadors during a forum held at Sookmyung Women ’ s University in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on March 8, International Women's Day [SOOKMYUNG WOMEN' S UNIVERSITY]

What is Sookmyung Women’s University’s globalization strategy?

Our key pillars are attracting global talent to strengthen digital convergence education and research, expanding global networks and nurturing a professional workforce. To this end, we established the Center for Digital Humanities last February, through which we plan to conduct joint research projects with many domestic and foreign research institutes to study digital convergence and ways to incorporate digital humanities in our school curriculums. Our advisers at the center include Youngsuk Chi, chairman of the world-leading academic publishing company Elsevier, and Marvin Chun, dean of Yale College and a renowned expert in neuroscience. Our Asia Pacific Women’s Information Center has also received about 6.7 billion won [$5.1 million] from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to offer business and e-business education to institutes and female small business owners within the Asian region. Before this project, the center participated in Unesco’s UNITWIN [University Twinning and Networking] program to provide ICT and leadership education to women in developing countries.

John Suh, former CEO of LegalZoom, an online legal technology company, giving a special lecture about start-ups to Sookmyung Women's University students in 2021 as part of an entrepreneurship lecture series [SOOKMYUNG WOMEN' S UNIVERSITY]

What benefits are offered to international students at your school?

To help international students quickly settle down and improve their Korean, we run student mentor programs and offer Korean proofreading services looking over students’ assignments and thesis papers. Korean cultural learning programs are held on a rolling basis, and therapy sessions are offered at our counseling center in case anyone feels anxious about school life.

How would you describe your ideal image of a globalized campus?

One thing I had in mind when I became the president of Sookmyung Women’s University was to allow as many Sookmyung students to travel abroad as possible. There were some limitations to achieving this goal during the pandemic, but I’m hoping to resume many exchange programs we had with foreign institutes soon. Last week, I went to Silicon Valley and visited many start-ups to discuss possible exchanges with our school. To this day, I remember the fire drills I conducted with my kids back when I was studying in America. My kids would bring the drill home as homework and the entire family had to practice what to do when a blaze breaks out. My body — not my mind — remembers each step of the drill because I physically lived through the moments. That’s exactly what I want for my students. I want them to go abroad, ride an airplane, get on a subway, meet people and talk to them. There’s a huge difference between people who had this experience and those who didn’t, just like there’s a huge difference between people who toured a start-up in Silicon Valley and those who didn’t.

A pond on the school campus [SOOKMYUNG WOMEN'S UNIVERSITY]

In today’s Korean society of intensifying gender disputes, some critics are skeptical of women’s universities and say they should be abolished. What’s your take on that?

If society allowed women to fulfill their dreams and hopes, we wouldn’t have gender disputes today. But the reality is, there’s still a glass ceiling blocking women from reaching their dreams and hopes, which is why we see men and women bickering with each other. As I was preparing for this interview, I asked myself, “How should I introduce Sookmyung Women’s University?” Our university is a university that looks into the future, not the present. Our university instills dreams and visions into young women, a global university that makes women’s dreams come true. There’s still a lot of work to do for women’s universities — still a lot of loopholes to close.

A professor from the university teaching ICT and leadership to women in Cambodia in 2018 as part of a Unesco project [SOOKMYUNG WOMEN’S UNIVERSITY]

What plans does your school have for the future?

As we step into the post-pandemic new normal era, we will seek digital convergence, entrepreneurship and ESG [environment, social and governance]. In particular, we plan to develop a big data management system and introduce software education in our school curriculums, while designing joint educational programs in biohealth, environment energy, smart city and digital humanity with related industries.

Snowverse, the university’s Metaverse campus jointly developed by the school, LG Uplus, Shinhan Bank and Mammossix [SOOKMYUNG WOMEN’S UNIVERSITY]

President’s bio

Chang Yun-keum is the 20th president of Sookmyung Women’s University and a professor of library and information science. Her four-year term as head of the school began in September 2020.

Chang currently serves as the president of the Korea Association of Women’s University Presidents and of the Korea-Kazakh Arts, Culture & Education Society; director of the Korean Council for University Education; and a member of the Constitutional Court of Korea’s Advisory Committee.

Chang received her bachelor’s degree in library and information science from Sookmyung Women’s University, and a master’s and Ph.D. in the same field from Indiana University Bloomington and the University of Wisconsin—Madison, respectively. She was also presented with an honorary doctor of education from the Kazakh National University of Arts.

About the university

Name
Sookmyung Women’s University

Type
Private

Established
May 22, 1906

English slogan
Gentle Power to Change the World

Location
Yongsan District, central Seoul

Campus size
614,975.4 square meters (151.96 acres)

Undergraduate colleges and departments
Colleges: 11
Schools and departments: 54

Graduate schools
10

Students (2021)
Undergraduates: 12,065
Postgraduates: 2,957
Total: 15,022

Academic staff (2021)
1,611

Administrative staff (2021)
339

Employment rate (2021)
63 percent

English website
www.sookmyung.ac.kr/sites/sookmyungen

Social media
Instagram: @sookmyung_womens_univ
YouTube: youtube.com/SookmyungUniv
Facebook: facebook.com/SookmyungUniversity

International students

Number of students (2022)
Undergraduates: 81
Postgraduates: 144
Short-term students (language learning, exchange program): 293
Total: 518

By country (2022)
China 24.52 percent
Japan 7.53 percent
France 4.83 percent
United States 4.63 percent
Other 58.49 percent (74 countries)

Department with the most international students (2022)
Division of Korean Language & Literature

Dormitory acceptance rate (2022)
29.34 percent

Average tuition of self-funded undergraduate students per semester (2022)
4,243,000 won ($3,264)

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