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QS Campus Visit January 2007 - Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology
I arrived in Seoul on January 7th to find snow on the ground. The train service down to Daejeon is exceptional and very quick given the distances involved. Upon arrival at the main campus of KAIST we were met with a full schedule for our visit involving not only the opportunity to present the THES – QS World University Rankings but also to look around the campus and meet a large number of the senior management officials.
First on the agenda was a boardroom meeting with most of the vice presidents and board members from across the institution. We were presented with an overview of KAIST’s strengths and activities with a particular focus on their key strategic developments for internationalisation.
KAIST is the result of the combination of KAIS (founded in 1971) and KIT (founded in 1984) and is at the cutting edge of technological development in Korea and there is an air of pride across the campus. Apparently over 25% of PhD graduates at Samsung are KAIST graduates.
KAIST also enjoys a unique position in Korea, existing under the Ministry of Science & Technology as opposed to the Ministry of Education which results in a little more autonomy than other Korean institutions. It is a destination for the very best Korean minds with 70% of students coming through Korea’s “Science High School” system or from a specialist high school for gifted students, all are awarded scholarships.
Despite the name, KAIST has expanded its remit to provide an increasingly strong focus on humanities and social sciences and also delivers leadership training to all their students.
The institute’s focus on internationalisation is evident from the very top of the organisation, with the recently appointed president, Nam Pyo Suh, not only being appointed for his excellent academic and administrative record but also due to spending 52 years in the US, largely at MIT, before returning to his native Korea to accept the post. The entire faculty seems to be rallied behind the leadership in further internationalising the campus. From February 2007 all freshman courses will be taught in English to further their ability to attract international students, their faculty are 90% American educated, their structure and organisation is increasingly structured with international familiarity and competitiveness in mind.
With cooperation agreements with 74 foreign institutions, 23 research projects with 12 countries the international star that is KAIST is surely set to rise.
During the visit we also had the opportunity to visit a couple of KAIST’s leading institutes… the National NanoFab Center is very large and impressive and despite the fact that it is dominated by their “clean” environment, making t very difficult for us to get up close and personal with the technology, it is clear that some real “science fiction” is taking place there. The satellite research center was a stark contrast, with a great deal more to see, detailed satellite photography, real-time renderings of the landscapes over which Korea’s satellites are passing. The real innovation perhaps, is their development of comparable technology to that of the US and NASA for a fraction of the expenditure.
The following day we also had the opportunity to go and see KAIST’s other (and original) campus in Seoul. Smaller and simpler but exhibiting similar values the city campus hosts the KAIST Business School and the Institute of Advanced Studies.
KAIST clearly has a strong commitment to internationalisation, a balanced approach to education and research and is the educational bastion of one of the world’s leading technological economies. With a leadership that is taking a very strategic approach to their development all that is left is for the world to take notice. Soon, I suspect, they will have no choice. Watch this space.
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