Actually, President Suh's KAIST Reform Blueprint is worth noticing. Its two goals are to nurture competitive talent in an international society and change the university operation framework so that the best education will be provided to students, the masters of school.
The staple Reform Blueprint proposed by the new president includes strengthening undergraduate schools, increasing the number and quality of the professors, reshuffling departmental organization, and improving the situation of tenured professors.
Dual degree system introduction
Dr. Suh, who has been an object of interest globally as the creator of the axiomatic design theory, said to The Korea IT Times that in conjunction with a department head-centered organization reshuffle, he will turn over new professor selection, budget use, tenured professor screening, research room allocation, and professor assessment to the faculty head. Previously, these were responsiblities of the president. It is reported that the position of the faculty head used to be an undesirable position, but since president Suh has taken office, many professors seek the title.
Regarding the increase of annual professor salaries, Suh said that he would boost the salaries of the science and humanities departments to be more in line with the engineering department over the next 5 years.
The president additionally pledged that KAIST will begin the screening process for tenured professors earlier in a professor's career. The current process includes a professor beginning his tenure screening seven years after becoming a full professor. However, if the professor does not achieve tenure it is often too late for them to find another position in the workforce if the professors are in the latter half of their 40s or early 50s. The new plan aims at beginning tenured professor screening sooner after hiring. This way some professors can reach tenure even in their 30s, Suh explained.
Starting with the freshman year next year, all freshman curricula and lectures will be held in English. Hence after four years all class levels will be held in English without any exceptions, even if it is Korean language or art class.
The president further emphasized an impartial professor assessment, adding that if their marks are low they will be not allowed to lecture. In addition, a dual academic degree system will bestow academic degrees from both KAIST and foreign universities.
Suh said that the number of professors will be expanded. Currently the number of professors stands at about 400, but it will be expanded to approximately 700. He will also foster a university development fund of 1 trillion won (US$1.05 billion) over the next 7 years.
Fostering development funds
KAIST's Reform Blueprint is also assessed to give domestic universities a fresh shock.
Concerning separate reform tasks, the veteran scholar elaborates: "First with regard to all curriculum's English lecture, this is expected to be helpful to attracting foreign students as well." He added that all curricula taught by KAIST such as the Korean language, history and fine arts will have no exceptions.
As regarding the dual degree plan the president showed firm confidence, despite the fact that the plan has sometimes not paid off well in the past. He explained that negotiations are currently under way with two American universities, one Canadian university, and one German university which are enthusiastic to participate in the dual degree program.
Provided KAIST students take classes in a foreign university after they complete their freshman and sophomore years in Korea, Suh said they would be granted a degree from both universities.
In relation to KAIST's plan to collect a university development fund of 1 trillion won (US$1.053 billion), Suh said that the students and professors of KAIST are at an international level of competitiveness, but it is heartbreaking that the University can't back them up financially due to the shortage of sufficient university development funds. Regarding the criterion of professor assessment, the president stressed: "From now on, KAIST professors will be assessed by the quality of their academic papers, not by the number of their papers."
He underscores that if professors come to research intensively basic research or applied research which can contribute to society or industry in no small way, naturally it is higher quality. Suh further underlines the importance of bidirectional education between professor and student. For example, he advocates the opening of individual research rooms for each professor in order that the professor can learn from students too.
Axiomatic Design Theory
As the President pointed out in his inauguration speech, in the past KAIST has made contributions to Korea by generating graduates who have made Korea a net exporter of high-technology goods and manufactured consumer goods. Dr. Suh maintains that future graduates of KAIST must have the ability to work in a global economy. In that respect, they should be trained and exposed to the culture and customs of other nations so that they can operate globally in technical and managerial fields.
In the same vein, the president emphasized once again the importance of securing solid financial resources, saying that he believes the budget of KAIST must increase substantially to compete with the best universities in the world. He has committed himself to seeking the help of the trustees and faculty in raising funds for education and research.
Dr. Suh created Axiomatic Design Theory and is well-known in world academic circles as an expert in the theory and methodology of design. His theory has been adopted by many industrial firms and taught at many universities throughout the world. His axiomatic design principles have been used to create new materials, products, processes, systems, software, and organizations.
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