KAIST

President Sung-Chul Shin gathered the ‘Global Opinion on Semi-centennial of KAIST (GO KAIST)’ during the evaluation meeting held online October 27 through 28 at KAIST’s main campus in Daejeon.

In light of KAIST’s upcoming 50th anniversary on February 16, 2021, KAIST has formed the ‘GO KAIST Evaluation Panel’ to assess its education and major research outcomes, and to use the results to establish future strategies. Former ETH President Ralph Eichler serves as the chair of the evaluation panel and 36 scholars from around the world participate as evaluators.

In his opening address on the first day of the meeting, President Shin thanked everyone who took part in the evaluation through video conferencing. He said to the evaluators, “With the 50th anniversary as our point of inflection, KAIST seeks to become a ‘global value-creative leading university’ for the prosperity and advancement of Korea and humanity as a whole. Your valuable contributions will nourish KAIST’s vision toward its realization.”

The evaluations that followed were divided into seven categories by academic area and seven more by major research topics including AI and bio-health. The corresponding colleges and labs at KAIST presented pre-recorded videos on their achievements, while department presentations were given in real time, followed by a Q&A session.

As President Shin wrapped up the meeting at the end of the second day, he once again thanked the evaluation panel and asked them to continue sharing “not only their positive opinions about KAIST’s achievements, but also frank and critical ones.”

The meeting originally planned to invite international scholars to KAIST, and would have included visits to sites of education and research. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was replaced by a virtual event.

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