Jeong Kap-young

By Yun Suh-young

Yonsei University has named Jeong Kap-young, a professor of economics, as its 17th president. He will take office Feb. 1.

Jeong pledged to nurture Yonsei into a global university at a press briefing Thursday.

“Yonsei is at a stage where it must take the leap into becoming a global university, taking on various challenges,” said Jeong. “I will strive to create a new history for Yonsei and focus on globalizing the school through our new campus in Songdo.”

Jeong said he will adopt the concept of a “residential college” in Songdo, Gyeonggi Province, where professors and students live together in the school’s dormitory.

Learning will become natural this way, he said. “Learning will occur in students’ everyday lives. This will be a breakaway from the traditional ‘institutionalized’ way of learning which is the norm for Korean universities.”

During his four-year presidency, Jeong plans to run an efficient multi-campus system under which the Sinchon (Seoul), Wonju (Gangwon Province), and Songdo sites will share various infrastructure.

He pledged to strengthen the school’s financial capacity and its social leadership role.

A Yonsei graduate, Jeong went on to earn a master’s degree at the University of Pennsylvania and a doctorate in economics at Cornell University. He has served as the editor of the Global Economic Review since 1996.