New Year's Message
With the start of the New Year, only 10 years remain until 2020, the pledged year for the achievement of POSTECH Vision 2020. As you may be well aware, POSTECH Vision 2020 was declared in April 2006, in commemoration of the University’s 20th Anniversary, to affirm Postechians as well as alumni, parents, and the world, our determination not to falter and grow complacent in leading within Korea, but to leap forward to be one of the world leading science and engineering universities, marking a position in the world top 20 by the year 2020. And 4 years have passed since the announcement of this ambitious goal.
We have made remarkable advances, thanks to the undivided passion and devotion of Postechians, but the recognition and influence of the University on the international level still fall short of our expectations. In fact, in some key areas including globalization, our standing in a recent ranking of domestic universities has been lowered significantly due to the rapid growth of the competing universities.
In the New Year of 2010, we shall make doubled efforts to carve out POSTECH’s future in the myriad of new challenges. I urge all members of the University to put on a spurt and join me in this earnest endeavor.
In 2010, we will be putting into action a number of key strategic plans. These propositions are to further define the future of POSTECH as well as lay the foundation to lead the science and the nation. The two projects of utmost priority are the strengthening of the University’s competence through the strategy of selection and concentration, and of globalization.
Formed in November 2009, the POSTECH Academy Council (PAC) has as its members some of the most renowned scholars of the University, who will assist in establishment of both university and department-level strategies for drastic improvement in the research capabilities of POSTECH. With the PAC acting as the leverage, we hope to found and nurture research groups of world-class competitiveness.
The globalization plan, as reported to the Board of Directors in December 2009, aims to realize integral globalization of the campus in the next 3 years, which will place POSTECH on the threshold of becoming a world’s leading university. The scope and contents of the plan include: common use of the English language as the medium not only of the classrooms but also of the administrative duties and the general life on campus as a whole; recruitment and procurement of world-class scholars and research institutions; and verifiable interchange with the world’s top universities.
We all would agree that the challenge POSTECH has met and its accomplishment in the last 23 years has marked a giant step forward in higher education as well as in science and technology of Korea.
In 2009, we took another innovative measure of introducing to the Korean educational system a completely novel undergraduate admission procedure based on the judgment of professional admission officers on talent, creativity and potential to grow as global leaders rather than standardized test scores.
Strengthening humanities and social science division as well as the department of mathematics adds to the efforts of the University to offer customized education for our elite students, and foster them into the global leaders of science and technology.
New graduate programs in the Division of Advanced Materials Science (AMS), the Division of Integrative Biosciences and Biotechnology (IBB), and the Division of IT Convergence Engineering (ITCE) through the World Class University (WCU) project is another important accomplishment, which is expected to add momentum to our efforts to elevate academic excellence and global visibility rapidly and decisively.
The new government funding of $100 million for upgrading the synchrotron light source of the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory (PAL), and the long-term academy-industry partnership agreement with the mammoth ExxonMobil corporation are also noticable achievements.
I am deeply thankful to all faculty, staffs, students, and researchers of POSTECH for their dedication and hard work doing their part for the continued advancement of the University and to all supporters including POSCO family members and the citizens of Pohang for their continued support even in the difficult internal and external circumstances of the crisis-stricken 2009. I ask all of you to once again put efforts together in the New Year so that our exertions may one by one bear fruit.
I hope that our hard work toward the great vision of POSTECH will blossom in the New Year of the Tiger, roaring beyond Youngil Bay, to every corner of the world. May health and blessing be with you and your family.
Happy New Year!
Jan. 1, 2010
President Sunggi Baik
저작권자 © 포항공대신문 무단전재 및 재배포 금지
