'Universities need entrepreneurship'

A general view of POSTECH. The nation's first research-oriented university was established in 1986 by Park Tae-joon. Park is also the founder of the nation's leading steel maker POSCO.
/ Courtesy of POSTECH

POSTECH President Kim Doh-yeon explains changes in the role of universities during an interview with The Korea Times in his office at the university in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, last week. He said universities should
strengthen ties with industries to improve the welfare of the society. / Courtesy of POSTECH

By Lee Min-hyung

POHANG, North Gyeongsang Province ― Fostering scholars is not the sole goal of university.

Universities were once a venue only for academic fulfillment, but this is no longer the case, according to Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) President Kim Doh-yeon.

"Universities should take more a business-wise approach, helping companies generate profits. This translates into the improvement of national power," he said in an interview, last week.

Kim, 63, became the president of the nation's first research-oriented university in September, widely recognized for his decades-long experiences in the education and technology field. He had served as a former education, science and technology minister in 2008.

After accepting the presidency, Kim called for universities to take on a more proactive role in strengthening industry-education ties.

"Collaboration is the key to dig out the nation's next-generation growth engine to actually improve the quality of people's lives and the welfare of the society and the country," he said.

POSTECH as next MIT

Kim says POSTECH is aiming to become the Korean version of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

MIT graduates are running some 25,800 companies, creating jobs for more than 3.3 million people, according to statistics released by the university. It added those companies are generating annual sales of 2 trillion dollars (2,256 trillion won) across the globe. The figure is equivalent of the world's 11th largest economy.

Kim said MIT is creating massive wealth for the community and the United States, adding POSTECH should also take on the same role here.

"At a university level, professors should inspire more students to entrepreneurship. I encourage them to become a person who pays a salary rather than receives one," he said.

Toward that end, POSTECH is running an on-campus startup incubating club, called the Association of POSTECH Grown Companies (APGC)-Lab, to breed more entrepreneurs.

"APGC members have given undergraduates detailed tips on how to run a company, helping create seven startups over the past one year" said the POSTECH chief. "I believe practical experience is more important than a well-organized school curriculum."

On an enterprise level, he asked for companies to hold cooperative programs for students, including internships.

"Companies are reluctant to accept students as interns, as this does not help them make more profits," he said. "But it is essential for the next-generation education. In Europe and the United States, many universities, including the University of Waterloo, are aggressive in sending their students to the working world through co-operative programs, better known as co-ops."

The world's leading information technology (IT) giants, including Microsoft, Apple and Intel, are collaborating with the University of Waterloo through the co-ops program, helping the university generate some $261 million in economic effects.

The Research Triangle Park (RTP) in the U.S. is another example of business-university collaboration.

The North Carolina state government created the RTP in 1959, which has grown into one of the world's largest IT clusters. The research and development (R&D) hub is home to many multinational corporations such as Cisco, IBM and Statistical Analysis Systems (SAS).

"The state government has joined hands with local universities, including Duke and North Carolina State, and the University of North Carolina for the RTP project, turning the state into an epicenter of cutting-edge technology," Kim said. "This is what POSTECH and other universities here should chase after."

Collaboration with global IT giants

POSTECH is also one of the leaders in Korea in terms of collaboration with the world's leading IT giants, he said.

"In 2009, POSTECH signed a deal with ExxonMobil, the world's biggest refiner, for joint research for ten years," he said. "The collaboration includes manpower cultivation in areas such as petrochemicals, steel and ceramics."

The university has also teamed up with Microsoft Research, the research arm of the world's leading software company, for internship and fellowship programs.

"Students can get a chance to interact with renowned researchers at Microsoft Research headquarters in the United States and Beijing. They can have on-site experiences of innovative research projects led by Microsoft Research."

The POSTECH-Qualcomm fellowship program is also helping students to develop expertise in the telecommunications area.

A group of selected students can participate in technology workshops with Qualcomm engineers for a year. Students can also exchange their research achievements and get feedback from the industry leaders.

The school's collaboration with industries is not limited to overseas IT giants.

In 2012, POSTECH signed on to a partnership with SK hynix, the world's second biggest chipmaker, for joint research in the semiconductor sector. The company will provide scholarships of half a billion won for five years after evaluating capabilities.

More competition through K-MOOC

Kim said the nation's knowledge competitiveness still lags far behind the global standard.

"Lack of competition blocks the nation's education system from leaping forward," he said.

For more competition, he asked more universities to sign up for massive open online course (MOOC).

The MOOC, introduced in 2008, is an online course freely available on the web. Anyone can take classes via MOOC.

"A professor at Stanford University started the system in 2012, in a bid to open his lecture to people around the world," he said. "A group of 40 students took his class in a traditional way, but the number surged to some 100,000 after adopting the system."

Last month, the nation also launched the Korean version of the MOOC service, dubbed K-MOOC. But local education bodies are still hesitant to accept the system as it can foster more competition among professors and universities, according to Kim.

"More competition on a university-level should be encouraged, as the MOOC service is a revolution in terms of conveying knowledge, compared to traditional in-class education," he said.

"In the case of the United States, professors compete for more quality education using the MOOC service, as this has created a sizable market. For example, the more compelling A Perone's lecture is, the more likely his books are sold across the world, which will bring massive economic effects."

History of POSTECH

POSTECH was founded in 1986 by Park Tae-joon, who was also the founder of the nation's leading steel maker POSCO. Park, who passed away in 2011, is well recognized as the godfather of the nation's steel industry, as he has grown Pohang Iron and Steel, a precursor to POSCO, into one of the world's largest steel companies.

Park stressed the importance of higher education to achieve technological development before founding the nation's leading science and tech institute.

"Park is different from other tycoons in that he was not interested in raking up money, but fostering young talent who could sustain companies. POSTECH was created against this backdrop," he said.

The school is also closely cooperating with its research arm, the Research Institute of Industrial Science & Technology (RIST) to strengthen basic research, which POSTECH believes will become a building block to lead next-generation industries including steel and energy management.

POSTECH is set to open the fourth-generation light source next year. The so-called PAL-XFEL can generate 10 billion times brighter lights than the existing third-generation light source, it said.

The university is confident the new light source will become a game-changer in various industry sectors including medicine, scientific disciplines, chemistry, nanotechnology and power engineering and electronics.