Ask a question for our university 14th president Yoon Bae Kim.

▲ 14th President Kim Yoon-bae / photo=Provision of Foreign Cooperation Team

Q. Please introduce yourself.

A. I am Yoon bae Kim, who was appointed as the 14th president of our university. It's nice to meet you through this interview with our university newspaper. Since taking office as the 6th president of our university in 2001, I have served consecutive terms as the 7th, 8th, and 9th president. After graduating from Cheongju High School, I earned a Bachelor's Degree in Political Diplomacy from Korea University, a Master's Degree in Business Administration from our university, and a Doctorate in Political Science from Hull University Graduate School in England. As a descendant of the founder of Cheongseok Academy, we are always striving for the development of our university.

Q. You became the 14th president of our university. How do you feel?

A. The board of directors of Cheongseok Academy, an educational foundation, chose me as the right person to preemptively and quickly respond to the crisis of local universities due to the decrease in the school-age population, operate the organization efficiently, and carry out structural reform. I think the student council, professors, employees, and alumni associations also needed me under the judgment that a "stiff president" is needed to overcome the current crisis. I also became the 14th president of our university by accepting the post of president in the spirit of murder as a "relief pitcher" to save the school. In the midst of numerous tasks and crises facing local universities, he was appointed as the president of our university and has a heavy responsibility, so he is very burdened.

Q. Many students are worried about the president's embezzlement of school expenses during your past tenure and the selection of a university restricting financial support. Do you have any measures to prevent the recurrence of past problems?

A. As the president at the time, I’m sorry for the embezzlement of school expenses and the selection of a university restricted by the Ministry of Education. But there's a lot to explain here.

First of all, there are a total of three parts that have been punished by the court for embezzlement of school expenses. These include the cost of maintaining the founder's grave, the cost of reporting to the media at the funeral of former honorary president Kim Joon-chul, and the cost of appointing a lawyer related to school litigation. Regarding former Honorary General Kim, it was after the cost of the media obituary was already spent because I was the bereaved (family) at the time. If the school does not respond to lawsuits, more school expenses will inevitably be spent. That's why it's the cost of actively engaging in litigation. There is not a single penny of personal embezzlement of any item.

At that time, it was caused by the school's administrative procedural error and lack of legal interpretation. However, after the incident, all expenses, including interest, were personally compensated. We are paying more attention to prevent this from happening in the future.

Second, 2014, at that time, various universities in the country were selected as financial support restricted universities. Our university was also recommended to reduce the number of people after being selected as a financial support restricted university. However, it was not executed because it was judged to not be helpful for the future of the school, and it suffered from the influence.

However, our university was selected as a self-improvement university (second-cycle evaluation by the Ministry of Education) for three years from 2018 to 2020 and a general financial support university (third-cycle evaluation by the Ministry of Education) from 2021 to 2024. We received 5 billion won worth of university innovation support projects every year. This is used for students' educational activities, installation and supplementation of various facilities.

In addition, it was selected for the specialization project of local universities from 2023 to 2024 and receives about 3 billion won in support every year. The projects mentioned so far have revealed the details of state funding at the university headquarters.

A total of five projects, including four in 2022 and one in 2023, were selected for the ministry-cooperative talent training project promoted by the ministry unit, making it the second-highest order performance among universities nationwide. The project cost supported 2.45 billion won in 2023. In addition, the Industry-Academic Cooperation Group is on the verge of surpassing 30 billion won, including orders from state funds, local governments, and individual companies.

Q. What is the difference between the school’s management style and the past when you were appointed as president again?

A. My unchanged belief in education is “becoming a university that students want to come to and parents want to send their sons and daughters to.” Therefore, we plan to embrace and develop this student-centered policy.

In 2004, when I was serving as president, I constructed a frontier educational environment by installing electronic teaching tables and beam projectors in all classrooms, which were high-tech equipment at the time. It was the first time as a local private university. I recently feel the need for a state-of-the-art educational environment which is suitable for the 4th Industrial Revolution, and will install state-of-the-art classrooms (ALC, Hyplex classrooms, etc.) every year to meet this demand. Through this, we will ensure that on-off lectures are held at the same time so that the campus is not restricted by time and space.

For example, we plan to save students’ time to commute to school for taking liberal arts or minor courses so that students on Osong and Eumseong campuses do not have to come to Cheong-ju campus. In order to implement this time and space-free campus, we are currently promoting the improvement of the wireless Internet environment on campus, and we will make it easier to use the wireless Internet in all spaces on campus in the future.

In the meantime, we will improve the practical training education environment including experiment equipment replacement. To upgrade the educational environment, we will invest 3 billion won every year and a total of 6 billion won for two years to improve student’s learning conditions.

In addition, we will advance the completion date of the remodeling Engineering College which is working so that classes will be carried out in this building the first semester of 2025.

In particular, we will not only improve the educational environment but also promote the reinforcing of the educational content.

First, we will introduce a curriculum certification system that checks and certifies the curriculum of all departments to achieve substantialization. This year, we will certify the fifty-four departments and select outstanding departments during 4 years by starting with 17 departments and will continue to maintain certification. Second, we will revive the English camp, which was suspended due to COVID-19, to improve student’s English skills. Third, we will develop and activate high-quality cyber courses along with the development of subjects that can utilize 100% of the state-of-the-art classrooms and metaverse platforms built this year. Fourth, starting in 2025, we will strengthen students' right of choice of major, through selecting 45 new students without major and activating innovative curriculum such as convergence major, multiple major, and microdegree. Through this, the quality of our university’s education is expected to improve a lot.

We will also promote the development of the student support system, such as job and start-up support, career guidance, and psychological diagnosis. Currently, we are advancing and developing AI-based counseling services such as ‘Could you, with us?(Kjurang)’ and we will establish an AI-based innovative support system in various fields to further activate customized support for each student.

We will do our best to become a student-centered education that reflects the past and future of a series of educational environment improvement plans, education internalization policies, and the establishment of a customized student support system.

Q. In your inauguration speech, the president said, ‘I will always communicate with members and listen to their thoughts so that the school can lay the foundation for leapfrog and excel.’ What are your plans for direct communication with students? I am also curious about what plans you are making for the development of the school.

A. Schools exist because of students. Above all, we know that students' opinions and student education environment are the most important. In order to communicate with students during my tenure, I will listen to their opinions through many meetings. Additionally, we will strive to become a university that students want to attend. First, we will create tangible results by prioritizing the creation of an educational environment and study environment for students. Right now, I'm on vacation, so I've only met a few students, including the student council executives, but after the semester starts in September, I plan to meet with many general students to actively find out what students want and then reflect it in the policy.

Q. The crisis at local universities is deepening due to a decrease in the school-age population and concentration of universities in the metropolitan area. President, I would like to hear your plan to overcome this crisis.

A. Currently, the school-age population of universities is plummeting, breaking the common belief that “universities fail in the order in which cherry blossoms bloom.” It is changing to ‘rather than failing in the order in which the cherry blossoms bloom, all local universities will fail.’ As fears spread that universities will fail, each university is fighting for survival. In any case, population decline is an unavoidable reality, and the resulting reduction in capacity is also an essential factor.

I will reorganize the academic structure to focus on competitive departments. In addition, we will do our best to attract international students in order to expand school finances, which have become difficult due to tuition losses due to a decrease in the number of students and a tuition freeze that has continued for 14 years. Attracting international students has become a necessity rather than a matter of choice, and I will make active efforts to become the number one university in attracting international students in the central region by utilizing my experience during my previous term as president.

Q. Lastly, please feel free to say what you want to say to our university members.

A. First, the situation in universities is getting more and more difficult as time goes by. The decline in the school-age population as well as the reality of college entrance exams concentrated in the Seoul metropolitan area are adding to the difficulties of local private universities. In fact, the current number of university students is 475,000, while the number of admission resources for next year is only 370,000.

Also, by 2036, the number of admissions at universities in the Seoul metropolitan area is 240,000, but only 223,000 students can go to universities. In short, there is not a single student who will enter a local university. As a president, I will do my best to help your university survive and develop in the future.

Second, we will spare no administrative and financial support to cultivate the human resources needed by the country and companies. I will save even one piece of paper, but I will write one more piece of paper for the students. We will make all-out efforts to foster talent ahead of the era of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 and to further support students' employment and start-ups.

Third, in order to create a university that students want to attend, I will be the president who only looks at students and serves, supports, and leads students with respect and consideration. I will be the captain and row so that all members can become one and move forward to universities loved by the community and universities within the region, so I hope our students will join me.

I'm only a student. Thank you.

Translate – CJU Times

So Yeon Jo

So Yeon Kim

Jin-won Seo

Jin Hyung Cho

Provide - Presscju