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<New Year’s Message>

My fellow members of Jeju National University!

The promising new year of 2022, the year of the black tiger has dawned. I sincerely hope that everything you wish will come true all throughout the year.

Recently, our university has accelerated its innovation for increased competitiveness to adapt to the new environment featuring the decreasing school-age population, the fourth industrial revolution, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the outcomes of innovation would be a barometer of our development and competitiveness, I would like to share with you our hard-earned achievements of last year, for which we spared no effort in identifying our growth potential while uniting the wisdom and capabilities of university members. 

Firstly, our university was selected to receive the national financial support worth 15 billion won for three years for its university innovation projects. This achievement was made based on the results of the nation’s University Basic Competency Assessment, which determined the budgeting for the university innovation projects for its third stage. 

Through the incessant betterment of our teaching and learning methods, we have put strenuous efforts into improving the quality of education, reforming the curricula, realizing the demand-centered academic system, creating an education- and research-friendly environment, merging departments, and opening new courses on advanced technologies. I believe that winning the eligibility for the national fund once again was possible because of these efforts and achievements.

The University Basic Competency Assessment will be conducted for the fourth-stage budgeting in three years. Hopefully, we will all start to work steadily to grow into a competitive university that has no disruption in recruiting new students despite the sharply decreasing school-age population.

As universities that fail to fill new students should inevitably reduce the enrollment quota, the recruitment of new students has become an indicator of a university’s self-sufficiency and competitiveness that is more critical than any other indicator. Under these circumstances, our university achieved 100% of the recruitment rate of freshmen last year. We are now making concerted efforts to achieve the full recruitment rate this year as well, and I expect we will have good results. 

My dearest JNU family members!

In order for our university to compete with the nation’s leading universities as well as globally recognized universities, we must deviate from the financial management relying on tuition fees paid by students and their parents. Rather, we need to change our financial system to focus on government-funded projects.

Competition among universities is so fierce that it is not easy to attract any government grants for not just the improvement of the school’s research capability, but also for the expansion of its research infrastructure, contribution to the local community, training of professionals, and seeking industry-academic cooperation.

Nevertheless, we succeeded last year in securing national government funds for new projects necessary for enhancing research competitiveness, establishing research infrastructure, and improving the welfare of students. To take an example, our university’s Intelligent Software Education Center and Research Center on the Commons and Sustainable Society were selected to implement the 2021 Humanities and Social Studies Institute Support Program, which is organized by the Ministry of Education and Korea Research Foundation. The two centers will receive research funds totaling 3.56 billion won for six years.

We also secured the budget of 28.68 billion won, including 12.68 billion won for our long-awaited project of remodeling and expanding the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital into the Veterinary Medical Center and 16 billion won for constructing the Experimental Animal Center.

The 4th Build-Transfer-Lease project concerning the Student Residence Halls will be invested 42.85 billion won, aiming to expand the capacity up to hospitalizing 900 students and completing the construction by July 2023. In August this year, we began constructing the Industry-Academic Cooperation Center with a total floor area of 7,123㎡. When completed, the center will serve as a mecca for industry-academic cooperation while integrating support facilities for research and development.

My beloved JNU family members!

The recruitment rate of new students, which is directly linked to the decline in the school-age population, alongside the relevant reduction of the enrollment quota, the integration of departments, or other new forms of structural reform, will keep us checked on or repeatedly tested with regard to whether we are determinant to achieve sustainable growth.

We need to prepare now for 2030 when the decline in the school-age population reaches its peak. As the following 10 years from 2022 to 2031 requires seismic changes and innovations from us, we are working to design a mid- to long-term development plan in response.

I called for the mid- to long-term development plan to enable us to prepare projects through which we can preemptively respond to the changing environments, such as the declining school-age population and the fourth industrial revolution while helping enhance the competitiveness of our school. Although the planning consigned to an institute has to be completed within a short period of three months, it wouldn’t be an impossible schedule if there is active participation and cooperation from members of our university.

Respectable JNU family members!

The year 2022 is a meaningful year for our university as this year marks its 70th anniversary. We have been preparing a variety of commemorative projects for the 70th anniversary of the school opening, where our university members including its alumni, as well as local community members, can participate together. 

Additionally, we are compiling our school’s 70 years of historical facts by theme and chronology, which can provide valuable historical materials for designing the future of university development.

Today, on the first day of 2022 which marks our school’s 70th anniversary, there was a commendation for the university's development merit, including a government award. There are also those others who didn’t win the award today but have calmly fulfilled their responsibilities for our school’s development. We should also encourage and support them, not forgetting to express our gratitude and apologies.

The car that we commonly use for commuting has about 30,000 parts. If any of these parts are missing or not functioning properly, the driver will feel uneasy driving and will feel very uncomfortable.

Indeed, this much bigger organization than automobiles has consistently produced results and created the present because you calmly worked to fulfill your respective roles wherever they are needed for our university to develop sustainably.

In that sense, I would like to thank all of you, my JNU family members, for making concerted efforts and showing passion in promoting such projects as passing the University Basic Competency Evaluation for the third stage of funding for universities, attracting the Humanities and Social Sciences Research Center Support Project, achieving the 100% recruitment rate of freshmen, establishing high-tech departments, and building the Veterinary Medical Center and the Experimental Animal Center.

I hope that we, as JNU family members, will overcome all the crises caused by the decrease in the school-age population this year.

May your family be full of good health and happiness.

Happy New Year, everyone!

January 3, 2022  Song Seok-eon, President of Jeju National University,