By Cho Jin-seo
Staff Reporter
DAEJEON ― April is a busy month for university students preparing for mid-term exams. But this month at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), it is far more intense than ever in the classrooms, libraries and laboratories.
There is a good reason that the students and researchers at Korea's elite technology school are feeling more compelled to study this year ― money. Before the start of the spring semester, the school charged its students tuition fees of up to 7.5 million won ($7,500) for the semester, depending on their previous year's grades.
It was the first time in the school's 37-year history that tuitions fees have been charged at all. Furthermore, the amount is the highest in Korea including medical, international and private schools; the average yearly tuition at a state university was 3.4 million won ($6,800) per semester last year.
``The classroom atmosphere has greatly improved this year,'' said Paik Kyung-wook, professor of materials science and engineering and the dean of student affairs. He said that about 270 sophomores with grades below 3.0 ― out of the 4.0 scale, or about 30 percent of the class, paid for this year's enrollment and 50 of them ― who failed to achieve 2.0 ― were charged full tuition fees.
``We expect the number to drop this year, since students know how serious we are now,'' Paik said.
The change in the tuition system provoked protests from many students and their parents, who believed KAIST would remain tuition-free. But KAIST President Suh Nam-pyo, who was invited to the school from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in mid-2006, pushed for the plan. ``Our first goal is to raise the standard of performance,'' he said during a press conference last week at the school.
``People often misunderstand our tuition policy. It is not that we are a free institution and we are penalizing under-performing students. It is that we are an expensive school ― with our tuition matching that of U.S. private schools. We only give scholarships to high-performing students, and we give loans to students who don't have money.''
Teachers are not exempted from such merit-based human resource policies. Earlier this month, he rejected contract renewals of six professors. This shook the professors' society in Korea, since it was the first time in Korea for professors' contracts to have been terminated purely for academic reasons.
``Even the smartest people need competition to do well. When you look at globally famous researchers, you will find that each of them is almost crazy about their research,'' Suh said.
To be fair, grafting a competitive culture in Korean academia wasn't entirely a new idea. But it was as difficult as belling a cat, in professor Paik's opinion.
``Everyone knew that we should go that way, but it was easier said than done,'' he said. ``Suh could do it because he is such an influential, charismatic person.''
KAIST was established by former President and dictator Park Chung-hee in 1971 who wanted to make it the Korean equivalent of MIT. It is an elite school focused on science and engineering, with about 70 percent of undergraduate freshmen coming from elite boarding schools known as ``science high schools'' in Korea.
The school has contributed a great deal to Korea's economic growth. In an attempt to globalize its organization, KAIST appointed Nobel physics laureate Robert Laughlin as president in 2004, the first foreigner to lead a Korean university. But he failed to impress the faculty and the board. Suh came to the rescue in 2006.
The pragmatic culture of MIT, where Suh spent most of his studying and teaching career, may have influenced his management philosophy at the university. However, not all reform actions of the 71-year-old president are based on market principles.
From this summer, he plans to close extra courses and urge students to go home during their vacation. Engineering geniuses should get some out-of-school experience and socialize, he says.
``Most of our students have spent years in boarding schools even before coming to KAIST, which mentally exhausts them by the time they get here. I want them to gain social experiences during their vacations, or at least spend time with their parents. That is an important part of education, too.''
His reform drive wasn't a pleasure cruise. There has been resistance in and out of KAIST, from student organizations and anonymous professors complaining to the media. Suh believes that things will improve, but worry remains over his globalization plan to make English an official language at the school.
``It's not an easy task,'' Suh told The Korea Times after the press meeting. ``Some students complain that they have trouble following classes in English. But I believe that they should not blame the language. They may have the same trouble when the class is spoken in Korean. I myself understand only 50 percent of what others say when I go to conferences and such.''
Inviting foreign professors is an even trickier task, he said.
``We have a low reputation in other countries. As for academic performances such as citation index of research papers, we already excel compared to famous schools such as Cambridge. But we score very low in reputation,'' he said. ``We scored 24 out of 100 points in reputation in a certain global report on universities. Cambridge had 94 or something. That is the reality.''
indizio@koreatimes.co.kr