University / Yonsei After 120 years, Yonsei University commits itself to "Yonsei Vision 2020" for global competitiveness With a master plan to build a new campus of 550,000 pyeong (around 1,815,000 m2) in Incheon's futuristic Songdo New City by 2010, as well as its "Vision 2020," Yonsei University is making educational circles sit up and take notice in terms of its vision and paradigm change on how Korea's universities should adapt to the evolving knowledge-based society. This ambitious project of Yonsei University is designed to attain global standards in the fields of education and research, with the University's 120th Anniversary last year as an impetus. In a nutshell, this University's new commitment is to leap 'Yonsei Standing Proud' in the world through globalization, differentiation and informatization, becoming conscious of the fact that in the 21st century knowledge-based society, corporations and universities cannot gain recognition without international competitiveness. No choice but human resources In a special interview with the Korea IT Times regarding the University's future vision, Jung Chang-Young, president of Yonsei University, stresses first off in regard to its planned Songdo City campus that what Korea can rely on in today's fierce global competition is none other than its talented and hard-working human resources. He pointed out that Korea has to nurture top quality talent to compete with powerful neighboring countries such as China, Japan and Russia. However, Jung points out that Korea's universities are not fully equipped to nurture such talent, drawing attention to the fact that the Songdo campus is a completely new concept. Explaining the significance of Yonsei's Songdo campus, he explained that it would be a meaningful landmark in Yonsei's 120 yearhistory, since missionary Underwood, the founder of Yonsei University had first set foot on Incheon at Easter 120 years ago. Moving on to discuss another important project, the president revealed that Yonsei had proclaimed its "Global 5-5-10 Project," through which the University wishes to advance into the global top 10 in at least five research fields within 5 years. By investing intensively in medical science as well as life science and engineering fields, Yonsei University will boost the number of SCI (Scientific Journal Citation Index) registrations from the current 132nd rank to be within the top 50 within five years. It is expected that Yonsei's new Songdo campus will be a residential college, in which there are educational facilities and a dormitory simultaneously, according to Jung. A dormitory life is obligatory for one year in the case of a freshman in Harvard, till sophomore in event of Princeton University, and over four years in the case of Yale University in the United States. As students forge close bonds while they study, take exercise, and board and lodge together, such a tradition can become a big driving force of university development, Jung emphasized. Providing foundation facilities such as an international education research center come to enter, he predicted that Yonsei University would be a "Scientific Hub" of Northeast Asia. He was confident that in conjunction with financial resources needed for a new campus construction project, funds of over 1 trillion won (around $1.03 billion) necessary for this construction project could be replenished through project financing like laboratory inducement and raising contributions. Global competitiveness' significance Changing his subject of conversation to "Yonsei Vision 2020," the president -- who insists that domestic universities' vision also has to be sought in nurturing global leaders who bear comparison with the world's universities by globalizing education environment eventually -- once again stressed the importance of global competitiveness. As part of such strategies, Yonsei University is planning to attach weight to 'inbound' internationalization which attracts foreign students, whereas thus far, 'outbound internationalization' to dispatch exchange students to foreign countries was rampant. As futurologist Peter Drucker pointed out in his book The Next Society, president Jung assessed that domestic universities could only survive by possessing global competitiveness in a knowledge-based society, and in that sense, communication ability based on a global mindset is a precondition for this. Accordingly, as from the spring semester, 2006, Yonsei University has established Underwood International College in which the all the University's lecture classes would be in English. He hoped to attempt change from previous exchange student dispatch-oriented internationalization, through the Underwood International College selecting a number of foreign students. Its new blueprint (global 5-5-10 strategy) to bolster "Vision 2020" includes astronomy cosmology, medicine/ engineering, bio medicine, IT science as well as Korean science, Jung disclosed. Benchmark as befitted economy development stages! President Jung who explains that 20 universities are driving the U.S economic development among 3,600 universities in the United States., pointed out that the nation needs to promote an environment through which superior universities can develop further. In this context, he said that the biggest mission for today's universities in Korea is to nurture each field's leaders and be cosmopolitan so that our students also can compete in a dignified manner with their counterparts of advanced countries. Henceforth, he advised that the government should promote an education policy through which high-performing universities can operate with autonomy as they wish. For instance, he pointed out that an ideal model of domestic university that the government sees, is a U.S. Ivy League university, but such a model is not appropriate in view of our country's economic development stage. Rather than this, the president advised that Korean universities have to benchmark large universities where successful research is being conducted, like the State University of Michigan. He added that high expense elite education is not appropriate at the moment in consideration of our circumstances and considering that ideal education features have to correspond to economic development stages. On one hand, he emphasized that the most important education goal for Yonsei University is to serve neighbors and to render service, adding that Yonsei University is a University which was established on the basis of Christian spirit. In this context, the University attracted public attention by announcing its plan to provide poor students with all-expenses-paid scholarships recently in a meaning that to nurture leaders who serve the nation like Heaven is the best way forward to realize its foundation spirit.