Un-chan Chung, President of Seoul University, Will Retire Next Month
When found in his office within the main University building, Seoul National University President Un-chan Chung, set to retire next month, appeared almost like a carefree student who had just completed a significant homework assignment. First, he gave a warning in regards to the World Cup fever that recently took hold of Korea. "It is worsening Korea's tendency of inclining excessively to one side," he said. His diagnosis is that, "while the Olympics and preliminary phase of the World Cup served to create an infrastructure for out society and increase our position in international society, the Olympics and World Cup also decreased the fighting spirit which allowed for economic development." He also said, that while the love of soccer is in itself a good thing, it creates chaos to love soccer out of a sense of patriotism. He also adapted the notion of this tendency of excessively leaning to one side to analyze politics. The phenomenon of all momentum shifting toward the Uri Party in 2004 and then shifting to the Hannara Party in 2006 is not unrelated to the cheering fever seen during the World Cup. President Chung is evaluated as having achieved many things in the course of his four year tenure. He promoted a model of industrial-educational cooperation, decreased the number of admissions office staff, and merged departments in a set of structural reforms. He also displayed a talent for management. In four years, he gathered an endowment of 160 billion Won for development in cash alone. That is the equivalent of earning more than 100 million Won every day. The reduction in admissions staff amounted to cuts of some 700 employees in both the undergraduate and graduate programs. As part of an effort to strengthen graduate studies, scholarships of 250 million Won were given over the last year to some 1,700 students, composing half of the doctoral graduate student body. The scholarships are generous enough to cover both tuition and living expenses such that "students can focus on their studies without worrying about money." He voiced deep regret over the failure of his plan to create an "undergraduate college" based upon the idea that one must teach the fundamentals. He voiced similar disappointment in regards to the failure to carry out the abolition and amalgamation of the departments such as those of History and Political Diplomacy. Another difficulty for him was the notion that emerged arguing that Seoul University should take responsibility for the Hwang Woo-suk controversy. Also viewed as success is his introduction of a Regional Balance Selection Model, whereby students are accepted in proportion to how many took the college entrance exam in each locality. "The main goal of the Regional Balance Selection Model is in increasing diversity at Seoul University. If Seoul University is to develop from being a mere conveyor of knowledge and turn into a creator of knowledge, I thought that first of all, the make-up of the University must become more diverse. In the hiring of faculty as well, more than one third of those newly hired were graduates of other schools, and as many foreign professors and students were taken as possible. After all, the world cannot develop by the "breeding of identical species." In the midst of the controversy surrounding the university admissions system for 2008, he promoted the autonomy of the university and thus took a position in opposition to the government. There were more than a few people who read his posture as being one of elitism. However, unexpectedly it was also him who worked to promote the Regional Balance Selection Model, stating the necessity of "preventing the breeding among identical species." His vision is in blending a diverse set of experiences and new ideas like ‘bibimbap’ made from the even mixing of herbs, rice and hot pepper paste. In 2002 upon his assumption of office, he declared that new students would be admitted through a quota system based upon the localities of Gu and Gun. When his proposal was faced with challenged of unconstitutionality by professors, he forged a compromise as seen in the Regional Balance Selection Model. Seoul University will choose one third of its staff in 2008 based upon the same model. Though President Chung would have liked to increase the quota to as much as 50%, he said that he would be content if that change were to occur in the future. He also expressed his through that "it would be good if universities other than Seoul University adapted this system as well."Where did his conviction that diversity is the foundation of creativity come from? "In 1966, of the 50 students admitted to the Department of Economics at Seoul University, 17 came from Kyungi Province high schools. In reflection, I learned more from the students from the countryside than from those also from Kyungi high schools. Having lost my father at an early age, the one who said to me, 'Un-chan, why don't you go to your father's ancestral grave? Lets go together!' was a fellow from the countryside. Even if one observes other cases, prominent American universities adopt the quota system, whether by region, nationality, in regards to Asian students or by other measurements. Chinese universities have long pursued a regional quota system. Thus, when I became President I carried out these thoughts that I had harbored for so long." The Regional Balance Selection Model is evaluated as a success. This is seen in the fact that students selected by this method have achieved better grades than normally selected students. The President is opposed to the system for leveling off high schools. "High school education must develop one's potential as an individual and help students achieve class mobility. Whereas a rich family can provide complete support to their 18 year old who is seeing the exam, a poor family cannot follow suit." This personal philosophy of his connects to his idea for "the revival of high school entrance exams." Thus, criticism of his views on education has been profuse. His proposal that "Seoul University become a graduate student centered institutions, and that a unified network of national universities be used to break the hierarchical university structure and also prevent the overheating of the admissions process" was spurned as a formula for the dismantling of Seoul University. "[My proposal] is not to eliminate Seoul University, but rather to concentrate support on a few universities to create other universities at the level of Seoul University." "What is the nature of the current hierarchical structure? The graduates of Seoul University dominate the important level of society. We cannot allow this to be. In the college entrance exam students form a line and are picked in order, and society picks people in the same manner." According to the Chancellor, not the university entrance exam, but rather the even employment by government and industry regardless of university should be used to break the hierarchical university structure. "In hiring employees, it is better to pick those with different opinions and backgrounds even if their abilities are slightly deficient." In response to the argument that Seoul University fails to provide a high quality education while monopolizing the best students, the President quickly replied that "such words come from those ignorant of recent changes in university education." "Seoul University has trained countless people. I visited the top 30 or 40 universities and upon hearing the fact that 'Seoul University is 31st in the world according to the Science Citation Index (SCI), and ranks only number 93 according to the London Times' people replied that such words 'must be some sort of joke.' Seoul University receives very high reviews internationally. The fact that we are 93 is related to the lack of any Nobel Prize winners, and it is also arises from the low level of foreign professors and students. I am absolutely confident that we will breach the top 50." Even while saying that Seoul University must be prudent in economic opening, he insists that they must quicken the pace of educational opening. He quoted the words of Keynes. 'Ideas, religion, art, and literature are best if they can become internationalized, but industrial products are best if suited to a given nation.' "Though these words are somewhat of an exaggeration, the making of products is after all directly related to labor and employment, so one must use caution. But the university in particular must be opened up. It is indeed the university that can resist a shock from the outside. Restructuring must be carried out with certainty, and some schools must be forced to close their doors." The next month, he will return to being a normal professor. Rumors of his entrance into politics are everywhere. "I do not yet have any thoughts of politics," he said.
