Dear POSTECH family, Happy New Year to all of you.
2024 was a year of significant changes and reforms. Under the banner of POSTECH 2.0, we introduced a number of meaningful new initiatives, improved and replaced existing practices, and expanded our influence at home and abroad. Through these efforts, we significantly heightened the prestige and reputation of our university. All of this was possible by the hard work of our faculty and staff, and above all, our students, who are our pride and the shining jewels of our university. I look forward to continuing these changes and reforms this year, bringing us closer to our goal of becoming one of the most innovative universities in the country – and in the world.
At the same time, I am also concerned that the shadow of stagnation cast over our society in recent years from international instability, gloomy economic outlook, and political unrest will affect our university. In my inaugural address in September 2023, I likened the next four years of POSTECH to a voyage. It is common to encounter unexpected storms and reefs on a voyage. When we encounter such obstacles in our path, it’s helpful to look to those who have navigated the same path—or an even more difficult one—than ours.
There is a story about an American university that was closed for four years due to war just two days after its founding. From the beginning, the university struggled financially and despite being a private university, it was only through government’s Morrill Land Grant that allowed it to open. Then, the war broke out and the university had to close. Although it reopened after the war, it faced constant financial crises due to a low number of students and classes were suspended several times. Within 20 years, there were rumors that its doors would be permanently shuttered. After six takeover attempts from a powerful neighboring university, the failing school was on the verge of being acquired, but antitrust laws saved it from completely disappearing. Finally, more than fifty years after its founding, the university saw light at the end of the tunnel when it moved to a neighboring town across the river and began to prosper. This university is MIT, now recognized as one of the best places of higher education in the world.
Behind every story of greatness is a journey of overcoming adversity. If POSTECH aspires to become a great university, rather than just a good one, hardship may be a necessary evil. As long as we have the vision to see beyond the storm and the courage and will to navigate the reefs, the unexpected obstacles in our path will only modify our course or delay our arrival, but they will never block or change our final destination.
I am cautiously predicting that 2025 may be the most important year for our POSTECH 2.0 project. Not only will new programs be introduced, but we are also expecting big changes in the faculty and student recruitment process. Furthermore, we will introduce a new admissions system in response to the current admissions landscape and the type of talent that our society needs. Year 2025 will also be the year that POSTECH admits its first class of international undergraduate students. Active collaboration in Korea and abroad and a host of events and promotions will significantly change the face and standing of POSTECH both on and off campus. The new buildings, currently being designed, will also reveal the grandeur of the new campus.
With our 40th anniversary merely two years away and as we begin the new year, I hope each of us will have dreams and goals for our university as if we were building a new institution together. I pray 2025 will be the year when we all work together to lay the cornerstone of a university that we can be proud of.
I wish everyone in the POSTECH family good health and happiness this year. Thank you.
Seong Keun Kim
President
January 1, 2025