KAIST business college fosters leaders with IT background

• Published Mar 2, 2014 1:20 PM KST
• Updated Mar 2, 2014 1:20 PM KST

By Choo Sung-ho

When people hear about the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), the first thing that comes into their mind is a university in Daejeon, famous for educating some of the nation’s brightest students in science and engineering.

They would be surprised to know that KAIST was the first school to offer a full-time MBA program in Korea. The KAIST College of Business, established in 1996, introduced Western-style business education programs to foster leaders in information technology management.

When this reporter visited the school to attend one of the Master in Information Management (IM MS) classes starting at 7 p.m. on Feb. 19, the classroom was filled with students wearing business casual who seemed like they just left their offices.

“This course is designed for future entrepreneurs who want to start their own business. During this intensive 16 week semester, students will work in teams to launch their own startups. The best part of this is that each team will have an opportunity to pitch a presentation for their product or service in front of notable venture capitalists and angel investors in Korea for funding,” visiting professor Oh Jong-hoon said.

During the class, students watched a YouTube clip of a winner of the pitch competition in the U.S. first, and then three students were randomly chosen to pitch their idea on a stage like the contestant in the video. Based on their performance, students actively discussed what components should be contained in startup pitch and what components make it outstanding.

According to Prof. Oh, most students on the IM MS course are currently working in the IT business. This reporter interviewed two students in the class to ask how they ended up choosing the program.

Jung Jae-wook, 37, who has run his own IT business for nine years, said he chose the KAIST program because it offered specialized courses for IT with core courses in management.

“One of the biggest merits of this program is that you can build up new relations with people who have different backgrounds through many group projects,” Jung said.

Another student in the class Bae So-yeon, 36, a senior project manager at SAP Korea, applied for the program to have a clear understanding of what she learned at work.

“After 15 years of working in the IT industry, I felt I needed to think about my future position. I am hoping that I can learn some exceptional insights from professors and other classmates needed to prepare for my future career path,” she said.

Lee Hee-seok, head of the Graduate School of Information and Media Management, said that MBA students at KAIST build a solid foundation both in management and technology.

“KAIST College of Business has focused on providing students with management education that integrates a wide range of technology and science disciplines,” Lee said.

“In response to a high demand for business leaders with an IT background in the global business market, the KAIST MBA curriculum aims at cultivating global leaders who are fully equipped for business practice. In this regard, I believe that students studying the Inormation & Media (IM) MBA, who have both knowledge in IT and management, will play a pivotal role in creating new values in the business world in the near future.”

The IM MBA is a one-year full-time MBA program specializing in IT, broadcasting, telecommunication and media convergence industries. The program aims to nurture IT media experts by offering specific media as well as general business courses.

The core curriculum of this program is specialized industrial training that provides students with an opportunity to work with real companies for four months. Three or four students will be asked to work in team to provide business consulting service for the selected companies.

A current IM MBA student, Song Eun-hwa, 27, an HR manager at KT, Korea’s largest telecommunication provider, said she would recommend this program to people in the media and entertainment industry.

“The curriculum is focused on recent trends in technology and industry in the media, so it is beneficial for them to catch up with the rapidly changing trends of entertainment and media content,” Song said. “In addition, through industrial specialized training, students might have a change to get a job offer from the company they worked with. There was a person who got a job offer from KT after the business consulting project.”

The KAIST College of Business offers four general MBA programs — the Techno, IMBA, Executive and Professional MBAs — and four specialized programs — IM, Finance, Social Entrepreneurship and Green MBAs.

Serving as one of the most competitive technology and management education programs in Korea, KAIST has maintained its reputation as one of the leading MBA brands domestically and internationally. Last year, the school’s executive program ranked first in Asia and 28th in the world in the Financial Times ranking.

Recently, the KAIST College of Business joined PIM (Partnership in International Management), the first member from Korea, proving its high degree of excellence in the fields of business administration and management.

Techno MBA is a two year full-time MBA program — the flagship program aimed at fostering global business leaders with expertise in technology and management.

Students of the Techno MBA are allowed to design their own curriculum that fully capitalizes on their own academic interests as well as job experience. Students will acquire a specific degree in eight general major tracks after taking all the required courses that are assigned for each major track.

The school recently launched a two year full time specialized MBA on social entrepreneurship in collaboration with the SK Group and the KAIST College of Business. The program is designed to provide business management knowledge specifically for entrepreneurs, and social entrepreneurship related expertise.