Oh Taek-yul, vice president of Kyung Hee University

By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter

Kyung Hee University's Global Campus, located in Yongin City, Gyeonggi Province, is working to turn itself into a hub for activities of the United Nations (UN) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from around the world.

Under the slogan "Back to Humanities'' Oh Taek-yul, vice president of the university and head of the campus, will continue to develop the Global Campus and play a core role in promoting the university's aims of contributing to world peace and promoting volunteer activities.

"A university dealing with global issues and making contributions to international societies is a true global academy. It also has to suggest solutions to various world issues," Oh said in an interview with The Korea Times last Wednesday.

In accordance with goals, Kyung Hee University has led various activities and events involving the U.N. and NGOs, including the Seoul International Conference of NGOs in 1999. The university initiated the "U.N. International Day of Peace" in 1981 and its "Year of Peace" in 1986. It also successfully held the World Civic Forum and World Civic Youth Forum this year.

On top of these achievements, Kyung Hee University will build a "UN Peace Park" and "Global NGO Complex" on the campus in order to provide accommodations to those from humanitarian organizations and aid their activities here in Korea. The university decided to build the facilities in 1999 when it held the international conference of NGOs, and broke ground for the facilities in 2004.



"Our campus will lead Korean universities as a global hub for civil society activities, research and education to promote the civic values of engagement and the betterment of humanity," Oh said.

Oh, who majored in mechanical engineering at the university, started to teach at his alma mater from 1979 and also served as president of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering between 2006 and 2007.

Nurturing Creative Leaders

With its ``Kyung Hee Lux Humanities College System,'' the Global Campus has focused on liberal arts and international studies. It will also provide more English-only lectures featuring world-renowned scholars.

The campus has some 13,000 undergraduate and graduate students and 450 faculty members at nine colleges.

Oh said the campus will establish an English-only course track for foreign students and run 40 percent of all courses in English. In addition, it will increase its number of incoming and outgoing students. Currently, about 2,400 students go overseas per year, while some 700 foreign nationals are studying at the Global Campus.

Through its "Search & Recruit Committee," the Global Campus will invite quality professors called "Global Eminent Scholars."

"So far, we have just selected applicants for professorships but from now on we will aggressively look for prominent professors from around the world," Oh said.

"Many universities are focusing on the quantity of research papers, but we will improve the quality of our research projects," he added.

In order to strengthen networks with overseas partnership universities, Kyung Hee is working to establish studios to record lectures at civic and cultural locations around the world. Under the plan, the school aims to have studios on every continent and invite famous scholars and celebrities to participate in lectures and conferences.

Kyung Hee's Global Campus will also build more academic facilities, including an international culture complex, and some 1 trillion won will be invested in the projects.



Under the "Kyung Hee Spirit & Pride" program, each department will be able to recieve up to 30 billion won, as well as more autonomy for their own research and study plans, starting from 2010. The program is expected to make the campus more dynamic and harmonious. It will also select highly talented students who can boost college pride.

"Like at the University of Pennsylvania, the dean of each department will get autonomy so that they can decide on personal affairs and budget plans," Oh said.

"Already, many domestic universities have benchmarked the operation of our campus.

"Universities have their own strong points. Some universities excel in science and engineering, like MIT and KAIST. Some are excellent in all fields, like Ivy League universities, and these are the institutes Kyung Hee University takes as role models."

Residential Immersion Program

The Immersion Residential Program is also a feature of the Global Campus. Under the program, more than half the freshmen stay in dormitories, learn to collaborate with their colleagues and participate in extra-curricular activities.

Intensive language and liberal arts courses, as well as a leadership training program and cultural and sporting activities, will be offered to the students.

"With these programs, we will nurture the students as well-rounded leaders and they can have opportunities to participate in various volunteer activities, which can help them to learn a sense of community and deepen their understanding of other people," Oh said. Also, freshmen will receive counseling from mentors, consisting of professors, graduate students and experts.

Founded in 1949, Kyung Hee Academy runs private institutes for students in kindergarten through graduate school in addition to the university. Its Seoul campus was built in 1952 and the Global Campus was established in 1979 with over 30,000 students at both campuses.

kswho@koreatimes.co.kr