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허향진 총장 개교 62주년 기념식사
President Huh remarks on 62nd JNU anniversary

Jeju citizens, guests and JNU community members!

We are here today to celebrate the 62nd birthday of the university and at the same time to look back where we have been as well as where we are heading.

Sixty two years ago today, our university was launched modestly with four academic departments, eight faculty and staff members and a freshman class of fifty eight.

Now, there are 9 graduate schools, 12 colleges, 1,200 faculty and staff members, and 12,000 students. Over 66,000 students graduated from the university, which reflects the status of Jeju National University as one of the major public multi-disciplinary universities in the country.

Such institutional growth would not have been possible without the enthusiastic support of Jeju’s early intellectual pioneers, parents of the students, alumni, faculty and staff.

We are here today to express our deepest appreciation to all whose support for making the pioneering history of Jeju National University possible.

Dear JNU colleagues!

The last year of the university was a dynamic one.

The university gained extramural recognition as a relatively small but strong and capable institution as such competitive grants and projects as BK21-Plus (with10.8 billion won grant for the next 7 years). National Green Campus designation, Marine Vaccine Research Center, and National Educational Center for Job Creation have been successfully lured to JNU.

In addition, Jeju National University earned the top ranking (rank 1 among 41 universities in the country) of “Very Excellent” in industry-academic cooperation project for two years in a row. The top ranking came with an annual grant of 5.1 billion won.

We are proud of the success of the industry-academic cooperation, especially considering the fact that we are a regional university with limited industrial resources.

We are also pleased to note that (a) our college of veterinary medicine gained full accreditation for the first time among the country’s veterinary schools; (b) a 95.1% success rate in elementary school licensing test; (c) a perfect score of 100% in national nursing qualifying examination; (d) 6th among the 22 national universities in graduates’ job search successes.

We want to boast that faculty’s research achievements substantially increased in recent years.

SCI-class publications doubled in number during the last four years. Individual grant also nearly doubled to over 70 million won per year (2013).

According to a survey conducted during 2010-2012, faculty members at all professorial ranks had significant increases in publication output, and that the rate of increase among the full professors at Jeju National University was the highest among the national university peers.

These achievements speak well for the faculty’s dedication and hard work.

Dear JNU family members!

As you know, the government is strongly pushing for university infrastructure in responding to the decline in school age population.

Accordingly, we submitted a plan to reduce the undergraduate enrollment of 234, 10% of the current total enrollment, by year 2017 to the Ministry of Education after each academic department program was carefully evaluated and self analyzed.

The Ministry’s university reform classifies all universities into 5 grades, and the four grades excluding the top grade universities will be forced to accept a reduction in enrollment.

Furthermore, student tuition has either reduced or frozen in last six years, and the school supporting association fund is in danger of termination. As you see, our future is threatened in many areas, and the society’s call for university reform is increasingly demanding.

Time has come for us to make advances through changes. We must be prepared for courageously meeting the difficult challenges ahead.

Dear JNU family members!

As the 9th President of the university I presented my institutional vision and four major developmental goals and detailed strategies last March.

Under the slogan of “Asia’s prestige, and global leadership,” 'I outlined the educational mission to train glocally conscious and creatively talented personnel who can contribute competitively to the development of the nation and freely exchange in knowledge and research capabilities with the members of the world community.

When this goal is met, we will be able to claim our position as a leading brand-name university.

However, this goal cannot be accomplished by the president and his associates alone. Every member of the JNU community must make his/her committed efforts toward the goal to achieve it.

Let us all work together to realize our hope and dream. I am honored to play a leading role in advancing the university mission and in working out the strategies for the development of the university.

Respected JNU family members!

We have demonstrated out ability to lead the nation’s universities through excellence in implementing industrial-academic cooperative program. Our role in spearheading the regional development will also be possible by working with the people of Jeju Province.

To succeed in our common goal, we must work together with trust, tolerance and support among us.

As we have witnessed, our university always progressed with your enthusiasm and efforts. Let us have dream and hope for the bright future of tomorrow.

We must overcome difficulties and meet challenges with confidence.

Together, we can make Jeju National University Asia’s prestige and a respected global leader.

Finally, I thank you the guests, citizens and university community members for being here to commemorate the 62nd anniversary of our university.

May 26, 2014
Huh Hyang Jin
President, Jeju National University