Good evening!
It is my great pleasure to attend the International Scholar’s Social Gathering tonight. As the president, I am very excited to meet you and I would like to welcome all of you attending tonight’s gathering.
First, let me express my heartfelt gratitude to all of you and your families from the bottom of my heart. I sincerely appreciate your contribution to KAIST through your excellent education and research as well as various public services.
I have lived in the United States for 10 years as a foreigner, so I know that living in a foreign country is not easy or comfortable. In that regard, I respect your courageous decision to work at KAIST and to live in Korea. I truly hope that you develop your professional career through KAIST and enjoy a happy life together with your family in Korea.
Some of you might know that I am the first alumnus President since the foundation of KAIST in 1971. I am very fortunate and feel much honored. However, I simultaneously feel a heavy pressure because expectations are high from both the KAIST community and Korean society.
KAIST now has to prepare for the next half-century for another quantum leap. Therefore, at my inauguration ceremony I proposed a new vision of KAIST, which is to become a “Global Value-Creative World-Leading University.”
By this, I mean that KAIST should foster knowledge-creative global leaders and produce world-class research achievements. To realize this vision, I will concentrate on innovations in the following five areas: innovation in education, innovation in convergence research, innovation in technology commercialization, innovation in future strategies, and last but not least innovation in globalization.
Your roles are very important to implement innovations in these five areas. In particular, we cannot realize innovation in globalization without the participation and contributions of international faculty and researchers. Currently, there are about 170 international professors and researchers working at KAIST. We will aggressively invite more professors and researchers to the KAIST campus in the near future. I ask you to serve active roles to recruit excellent professors and researchers from your home country to KAIST. They could be your brothers, sisters, or significant other, as long as they are excellent enough to come to KAIST.
A long time ago, I asked Dr. Robert Dynes, 18th President of the University of California, about the role of university president. He said there are three important roles for a university president.
The first role is fund raising; the second is fund raising; the third is fund raising. Similarly, fund raising is also an important task for Korean university presidents. I am planning to raise a fund of 25M USD every year. However, you do not have to worry about tonight, because tonight’s event is not about fundraising.
As the new president, I plan to administrate KAIST with the so-called ‘3C’ philosophies.
The first C stands for Change. I will not hesitate to change KAIST to achieve the new vision of KAIST. I will do my best to transform KAIST into a global leading university.
The second C stands for Communication. I will actively communicate with all KAIST families including international families. One of the purposes of tonight’s gathering is to communicate with you. If you have any constructive suggestions or opinions, please let me know tonight or through e-mail anytime in the future. I will respond to your e-mail within 24 hours.
The third C stands for Care. I will express my care for all KAIST families, especially international members, by listening to every voice. I will do my best to fix your problems and to fix your complaints. Let me stop my welcome speech here. Please enjoy the delicious dinner and entertaining programs we have prepared.
Have a wonderful evening! Thank you very much.
Sung-Chul Shin
President, KAIST