SEOUL, KOREA — Shifting focus from hardware toward software
For the last half a century, the Korean economy has been driven by hardware sectors: automobile, shipbuilding, semiconductor and electronics, with market capitalization of the four industries amounting to half of the total KOSPI(Korea Composite Stock Price Index). One fourth of mobile phones and TV, and around one tenth of the cars sold in the global market are of Korean origin. However, despite their dominance in hardware sector worldwide, Korean businesses haven’t shown strong performance in the global software market. In terms of database or operating system there are no globally recognized Korean companies yet. Rather, software competitiveness is shamefully in the lower ranks among OECD countries, and the market share of Korean companies is a mere 0.9%, ranked 16th in the world.
“The importance of software is higher today than ever. As the root of industrial competitiveness is rapidly shifting its emphasis from hardware-based to software, the convergence ability of SW and HW is emerging as the core driving force of all industrial development,” said Tai-Myoung Chung, Dean of Department of Software at Sungkyunkwan University. “For an industry to grow, a sprout is needed. When the shoot of hardware industry grows, it should smoothly transition to software sector for them to grow side by side. However, being complacent while focusing on the successful hardware sector, the Korean economy didn’t find it necessary to simultaneously nurture the software sector. For the nature of software requiring more ideas than any other industry, I believe, the utmost importance must be placed upon fostering talented people who are creative and innovative.”
Department of Software, Sungkyungkwan University
Aiming to foster future global leaders of software industry, Prof. Chung led the creation of the Department of Software at Sungkyungkwan University last year. Courses provide freshmen and sophomores with basic courses while for juniors, major courses are divided into seven tracks: Network S/W(Mobile, Internet), Game S/W, Platform S/W(OS, Embedded), Security, HCI(Graphics, Vision), Application S/W(DB, AI, Businesses), S/W Theory(Algorithm, Turing Machine). On top of this, they can learn diverse subjects such as management, administration, medical, and fashion as software can be applied to every industry in this convergence era.
Academic-Industrial Projects
Unlike conventional school, the department runs a five year integrated program of Bachelor and Master’s degree to allow students to be fully prepared to jump right into society. With full scholarships and global activity programs all covered by school expenses, only the top one percent of students nationwide are selected. As part of the training courses, students, from freshmen, are involved in joint business projects given by SMEs that in turn offer scholarships to the school. Comprised of one professor and three students, a research team strives to solve the challenges together. In doing so, companies can solve problems they can’t do on their own. Students can also learn about the industry as well as how to tackle a variety of business issues. This helps heighten their adaptability when they become seniors and are sent to work for global IT companies and research centers for internship.
Going Global
The school also aims to provide a variety of global experiences for students. Accepted freshmen last year visited China to tour global IT companies as well as Tsinghua University to better understand the future partner as well as competitor nation. The school also invited Chinese students majoring in software in Tsinghua University to Korea for a cultural exchange. During summer vacation, they visited seven European countries to learn about different culture, people, and languages. “At first, they were afraid of communicating with foreigners as they weren’t comfortable speaking English. So prior to the trip, we offered intensive programs for students to understand the country, culture, and history, and they are also trained to make a presentation and discuss the countries in English. In the countries, they are given various assignments designed to foster socialization with local people. After completing the training and trip together, I found out that they gained more confidence, and their participation in classes held by foreign professors was remarkably improved. This summer, students flew to the U.S. At Stanford University, they had several lectures about current issues such as SNS analysis and the development of Google’s unmanned vehicle, and also visited global IT companies including Microsoft, Google and Symantec in Silicon Valley,” Prof. Chung said.
Whole Person Education
Another feature of the department that stands out is the mentoring system. “We are not only aiming to provide academic knowledge for students, but also to pursue whole person education. One professor supervises three students in terms of academic learning, personal life, as well as career. Through this personal guidance, problems occurring in the school system can be noticed and addressed early and students are given more chances to be educated according to their own ability and choices. Every week, professors gather to discuss their mentees’ growth and personal issues, and seek the best way to guide each student. On top of this, through an integrated evaluation system, students are assessed not only based on academic performance but also diverse criteria including extracurricular activities, industrial-educational cooperation projects, sincerity, and peer evaluation.”
With job insecurity widening in Korea, there is a growing trend for talented students to opt for law or medical school, avoiding the engineering field. Some dismiss software engineers as people who are doing repetitive coding jobs, contrary to the U.S., or Japan where the job is highly regarded. If this trend continues, there is no future for the software industry in Korea. In this context, setting up the Department of Software, an intensive training course by Sungkyunkwan University, is a necessary step forward to boost Korean software industry. “Education cannot be done in a day but will be a long way off. However, with the continuous improvement of education to produce creative and talented youth, I am confident that someday we will see the next Steve Jobs and Bill Gates in Korea, creating a paradigm shift in technology.”
