Interview with Lee Sang-bum, President of the University of Seoul (UOS)
▶ Our University has domestic/overseas performances such as occupying the fourth ranking in the whole country in university rankings of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. Currently to raise value of our university’s brand, what project do you concentrate your efforts on?
▶▶Now by the press, our university is reported to be one of the major universities at all times. In university entrance examination, scores of freshmen who apply for our university are being increased every year. It proves that position and brand value of our university were largely improved.
Last year, I made the University of Seoul marked with Cheongryangni at Cheongryangni Station. This year, I plan to raise recognition of our university more by organizing the entrance of the campus and installing a symbolic sculpture before the front gate.
Although special achievement such as inducing professional graduate school of law raises brand value of our university, it is also a result of integrated development. Therefore, our university should continue to develope itself to raise the brand value of our University continuously.
▶ Last year, the first university self assessment was carried out. As a result, the scope of internationalization in five scopes got the lowest grade. What are your plans for strengthening the internationalization?
▶▶The internationalization of our university has been progressed quickly since I assumed the presidency in 2003. The number of overseas exchange universities was just ten in 2003. However, now the number was increased to be 116 in 29 countries. And diverse international programs such as exchange student, dual degree, GLP, overseas language training, global internship, global expert program, international summer school and Korean language institute are being carried out. Especially, global internship program was appreciated as a model case from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. Thus, our university acquired the most supports from the government last year and this year.
The assessment of Joong-Ang Ilbo on internationalization is evaluated as five indexes- Foreign professor proportion, foreign student proportion, overseas-dispatched student proportion, foreigner’s exchange student proportion, and English lecture proportion. Our university got relatively high evaluation in overseas-dispatched student proportion (7th ranking) and foreigner’s exchange student proportion (17th ranking). However, we got very low evaluation in foreign student proportion and foreign professor proportion and relatively low evaluation in English lecture proportion. Therefore, I will put a focus on improving the indexes in the future.
In the field of foreign professors, I will continue to increase the number of inviting professors or guest professors as now. However, I will concentrate more efforts on recruiting full-time foreign professors. This year I recruited two full-time foreign professors in the school of business administration and in the department of physics for the first time in the history of our university. In the long/middle term, I plan to place more than at least 1 foreign professor in each school and department. It is expected that English lecture proportion will be naturally increased if the number of foreign professors is increased with expansion of incentive system.
The problem is foreign student proportion. Our university has officially introduced an entrance examination system for foreign students from 2008 and established a Korean Language Institute. Our university is increasing the number of foreign students every year to induce good foreign students.
▶ Not long ago, our university was selected in the preliminary advanced university support project for advancement of school education of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and received an actual inspection from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. How are you preparing for it? And if our university is finally selected, what change is expected?
▶▶The advanced university support project for advancement of school education introduced for the first time by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology this year is a project which supports ‘Well-teaching university’ in a word. It needs creation of an advanced model in school education as a project which selects about 4 universities in the capital area and about 6 universities in the local area and supports them intensively.
Our universities submitted a business plan with a title of ‘Innovation of School Education through Construction of Self Education Certification System’ through university-wide efforts. It passed the first-stage screening and will receive the second-stage screening on 11th. If our university is selected in this project, our university will be supported 3.0 billion Won every year for four years and innovate the whole of school education by carrying out self certification through construction of self certification system.
10 units of school & department out of 35 units of school& department in our university already got external certification such as certification of architecture education, certification of engineering education and certification of business administration education. If our university is selected in the advanced university support project for advancement of school education, we will reform quality in major education by introducing self certification system to the remaining school & department and also reform liberal arts education, extra curricular education and educational support system over the whole of our university.
To be so, we will establish a Self Education Certification Institute and expand/change the present liberal arts & teaching profession department to bachelor education center for innovation of liberal arts education. If our university is selected in this project, it will cause large qualitative changes in school education of our university.
▶ What efforts do you concentrate on the field of education and research as a plan to strengthen professors’ competitiveness?
▶▶Interview with Lee Sang-bum, President of the University of Seoul (UOS)in the field of education, we have introduced standard score system to lecture evaluation system from last year and opened all results of lecture evaluation. We will expand the object of reward to professors within the top 30% ranking by each school and department from this year by strengthening incentives for good lectures. We will also strengthen educational part in evaluation on professor’s achievement from this year. In addition, we will strengthen support for improvement of instruction method through teaching-learning development center.
In the field of research, we have strengthened standard of promotion and rehiring until now and reduced professors’ compulsory lecture hours according to their research performance by carrying out research mileage system. We have largely strengthened incentives for good paper from this year. In addition, we go on expanding research expenses for new professors to recruit good new professors and on strengthening support for advanced research equipment.
▶ For dream and challenge toward the 100th anniversary of the founding of our university in the future, what message do you want to give to the members of our university?
▶▶After 8 years, the 100th anniversary of the founding of our university will be opened in 2018. The 90th anniversary ceremony of the founding of our university in 2008 is no more than the eve of the 100th anniversary of the founding of our university. At that time, in the vision declaration ceremony toward the 100th anniversary of the founding of our university, we set up a slogan to be “Dream and Challenge toward the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of Our University: Top Brand University of Seoul” and established our goal for dream and challenge to be ‘Top Fifth University in the Whole Country and Global Mecca of Urban Science.’ The vision is not an absurd project. Considering that our university occupied the top fourth ranking in the whole country in the university ratings managed by the government in February, it is thought that the vision can be achieved enough by our efforts.
For the 100th anniversary of the founding of our university, all members of our university need to renew their attitude more and to press on harder.
Jeong Yu-bin Editor-in-Chief
qls0325@uos.ac.kr