THROUGHOUT THE millennia, universities have stood as bulwarks of higher learning. Yet often, this established nature engenders a rigid structure of bureaucracy and a limited set of curricula, leaving universities unable to adapt eclipsed by those willing to transform their learning environments. This has never been as apparent as in the current moment. The globalized, fast-changing society of the 21st century has generated vast and innovative changes in modern universities, forcing the best to make radical changes to maintain their rank. The essence of this movement lies in openness, sharing, and convergence.
Yonsei has been following this movement by establishing new departments such as the Humanities, Arts, and Social Science (HASS) department, which converges humanities with social science. Nevertheless, Yonsei, as well as several other Korean universities, found intra-campus changes to be lacking in scope and felt limited by its own resources and unable to keep up with the technologies that sweep the society. Thus, on March 5, 2018, the inter-campus project, “Open and Sharing Campus,” was initiated between Yonsei University and Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH). During the opening ceremony, President of POSTECH, Kim Do-hyun, introduced the “Open and Sharing Campus” model as a “groundbreaking plan that will break colleges’ limits.”
The Yonsei Annals decided to examine this new concept as well as Yonsei’s efforts—specifically its partnerships with POSTECH and Korea University—to achieve an “Open and Sharing Campus.”
What is an “Open and Sharing Campus”?
The model “Open and Sharing Campus” aims to reconfigure the space of college campuses, enhancing universities’ education and research capabilities by allowing them to completely merge or simply share resources and facilities. The movement to achieve this model is a global one.
In January 2018, Paris-Sorbonne University (Paris IV), a university with a strong focus on the humanities, merged with Pierre and Marie Curie University (UPMC), a top French university in the fields of science, engineering, and medicine. In an interview with BBC, President of Paris IV, Barthelemy Jobert, explained how this merge can help the development of Paris IV, breaking it out of its original humanities-centered mold and allowing it to collaborate with diverging fields of science. This, he added, will equip students for the workplace in today’s globalized society. Harvard University also partnered with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), even though it has its own world-class engineering department. This demonstrates the prevailing belief that cooperation between two schools can achieve much success through the significant synergy effect it brings.
Yonsei University and “Open and Sharing Campus”
Yonsei University has fully adopted this university model as its own. The “Open and Sharing Campus” project launched in March 2018, with students from Yonsei University and POSTECH now able to take classes and receive credits from both colleges, as well as conduct joint research projects. Moreover, students can utilize both schools’ unique facilities, including their dorms and libraries.
“For example, a fusion of Yonsei Severance Hospital’s clinical data and POSTECH’s engineering technologies can achieve an innovative outcome…This partnership will also assist in solving the philosophical issues surrounding the symbiotic relationship between humans and Artificial Intelligence (AI),” stated the Kim Yong-hak, the President of Yonsei University, during the opening ceremony of the “Open and Sharing Campus” Project. The latter part of President Kim’s statement regarding the philosophical issues surrounding AI perfectly illustrates the essentiality of this new university model. In the 21st century, the market for AI has grown tremendously, bringing with it a bevy of philosophical and ethical questions such as “Can machines think and act like humans?” or “Should AI be allowed to have Intellectual Property rights to their creative outputs?” Such new issues call for a convergence of various academic fields. President Kim Do-hyun of POSTECH elaborated, “There are many scholars in the humanities and social sciences that are not in POSTECH… We expect that the combined resources of both universities will have a considerable synergy effect.”
In addition, Yonsei has also partnered with Korea University within the same initiative. Through the “Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the Mutual Utilization of Academic Resources and the Cooperation on Information and Communication Technology (ICT)” held in May 2018, Yonsei University and Korea University decided to provide open access to academic resources, campus libraries and other facilities to students at both campuses. During the MOU ceremony, the Director of Yonsei’s Office of Library & Information, Lee Bong-gyu, stated that the agreement with Korea University will “break down the barriers between scholarly resources and maximize the utilization of research resources.”
A prominent aspect of this agreement is the sharing of high-tech facilities located in the two schools’ libraries. While the Y-Valley at the Yonsei-Samsung Library concentrates on using advanced technologies to turn ideas into reality, giving students access to various state-of-the-art tools and Internet of Things* appliances, the CJ Creator Library (CCL) in Korea University centers on the creation of multimedia content. Providing a wider range of resources to students of both schools, the partnership is expected to promote unique developments in the field of Information Technology (IT).
How can members of Yonsei benefit from this new university model?
After Yonsei launched its “Open and Sharing Campus” initiative, various new and helpful services of POSTECH and Korea University have become available to members of Yonsei. These services are as follows.
1. Access to Korea University’s library resources
For college students writing numerous research papers and essays, only a few things are of greater importance than academic resources. Members of the Yonsei community who receive ID cards for KU’s library can access every service and resource in Korea University’s libraries located both in Anam and Sejong. Professors and students who are currently attending school can apply for the Korea University library ID card. “Last time, a book that I wanted to borrow was already checked out in Yonsei’s library. However, Korea University’s library had it, so I could just borrow it there. It was very convenient,” said an anonymous interviewee who has been using the ID card.
Unfortunately, the application period to issue the ID card in 2018 has already passed, but a new period for application will be open in February 2019. So students looking to maximize the opportunity should keep an eye on the application date. Announcements will be posted on the official website of the Office of Library & Information Technology Services (http://library.yonsei.ac.kr/).
2. Intensive Course Program
For students in the college of engineering, another useful opportunity is the Intensive Course Program Yonsei is conducting with POSTECH. This program is held every break, and through this program, Yonsei students can take classes at POSTECH while living in its dormitories. By doing so, students do not have to worry about the long commute to school and can focus solely on their studies. Also, students interested in engineering and technology can find a wider option of seasonal courses at POSTECH.
The information about the 2019 Winter Intensive Course Program will be uploaded by Yonsei’s Teaching and Learning Support Team on the Yonsei announcement board, which can be found at www.yonsei.ac.kr/sc/support/notice.jsp.
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To make the most out of their studies, students should take advantage of every opportunity that is provided by the university. Traditional fields of study, such as the humanities or sciences, are no longer mutually exclusive, as American journalist Thomas Friedman explains. “Today more than ever, the traditional boundaries between politics, culture, technology, finance, national security and ecology are disappearing. You often cannot explain one without referring to the other, and you cannot explain the whole without reference to them all.” In a time when sharing and convergence is becoming the norm, Yonsei’s initiative in the “Open and Sharing Campus” is indeed leading higher education to the future.
*Internet of Things: Interconnection between everyday objects that have electronic devices implanted in them