By Chung Hyun-chae
The Peace BAR Festival, held by Kyung Hee University since 1982, is designed to explore what higher education institutions can do for world peace.
A special forum titled “The Future of Universities, the Politics of the Future: Visions of What the World Can Be” will be held Tuesday to showcase the purpose of the festival.
Kwon Gi-bung, rector of the Kyung Hee Graduate Institute of Peace Studies, is to preside over the discussion, in which Kyung Hee University President Choue In-won, Korea University President Yeom Jae-ho and former Seoul National University President Chung Un-chan will take part.
They will discuss the obligations of universities and politics in the 21st century.
“We must consider again the true meaning of education. But doing so is impossible if politics, with its role in creating the future, fails to fulfill its purpose,” a school official said.
The forum’s theme was selected to reflect the school’s diagnosis of higher education and its future.
“Education without hope and politics without any prospects are like life without a future,” the school said in a statement. “Many problems we face today can be traced back to politics. Our deep uncertainty in this seemingly complex world has led us to look to our political leaders to lead us to a sustainable future.”
According to the official, it is the first time that Kyung Hee has invited the incumbent and former presidents of local universities to reflect on the role of schools and explore new possibilities for politics.
In the past, the school usually invited foreign scholars and experts to the festival to share the meaning of the International Day of Peace.
“I am personally looking forward to seeing what conclusions the three presidents will reach in that they are the ones who must seriously consider the issue,” Chung Jong-pil, acting rector of the Global Academy for Future Civilizations at Kyung Hee, said.
“It is time to think about what values universities can provide to students and what responsibilities they have for the entire world,” he added.
Facing crises including a reduction in the number of students, domestic universities have been struggling to find solutions for their difficulties.
As part of such efforts, some are trying to attract more foreign students by forming partnerships with foreign schools while others are specializing in specific fields to differentiate themselves from others. Some are even focusing on providing job training to students in order to help them land work after graduation.
“It is not certain that universities can survive in the next 10 or 20 years because students can watch lectures given by Ivy League professors and Nobel Prize winners through online courses,” Chung said. “Universities must give something more than just lectures.”
He believes that universities should help young people develop critical thinking and develop their own views. And the school’s strong liberal arts education could contribute to achieving this, he said.
“I expect more ideas to be discussed at the roundtable session,” Chung added.
The school published “Kyung Hee Report on the Future of the University” on June 5 with the purpose of finding out how students perceive reality and what they want from higher education.
“Although we found that students have a negative perception of reality and today's college education, we also realized that they have strong desires and hopes,” he said.
The dialogue is part of the school’s efforts to figure out ways of moving toward a sustainable future for all.
“The forum will ask what universities and politics must do to bring change to the world in order to cope with the crisis of humanity,” he said. “I hope the forum will help educators and politicians turn the crisis into an opportunity to set out action plans for the future.”