Behind Sungkyunkwan University’s Transformation

Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) has a long history. Founded in 1398, it is one of the oldest private universities in South Korea. In 1998, SKKU drafted its first plan called Vision 2010. To transform SKKU from a teaching school to a global research university, they secured continuous funding through a partnership with Samsung. They also actively hire professors who are engaged in global research and have established a holistic research environment to attract outstanding researchers. In 2011, SKKU introduced Vision 2020 and set a goal of coming among the top 50 universities in the world and the top 10 universities in Asia. In this interview with Professor Sungjin Song, Vice-President, Planning and Regulation Division/Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Lim Jaehwan, Section Chief, Office of Strategy, Planning, we tried to understand the secret behind SKKU’s success.

Team structure and the story behind improving the THE ranking

What is your role and what does your department do? 

Dr. Song  I am the Vice President for Planning and Budgeting. I am in charge of planning for the university’s growth in education and research and industry–university collaboration, as well as branding activities. I am also in charge of planning the investment needed for growth. The public relations team falls under me. 

Most of the press releases we saw about Sungkyunkwan University’s ranking, some calling it the number one private university in Korea, had your quote. Is it fair to assume you were responsible for improving the THE rank? 

Dr. Song  Actually, Lim [Chae Hwan] works on the ranking. At the Vice President level, I am responsible for that. 

Lim Chae Hwan  I am in charge of data analytics and analytics about rankings, but it’s just a small piece. There are other pieces like brand image and public relations, which are handled by other teams. 

Dr. Song  With the criteria established by university ranking agencies, it is not possible for just one team or person to handle everything. This is a university–wide effort. We have four teams: for planning, budgeting, public relations, and carrying out quantitative analyses of university data.  

You have really improved the THE university ranking in the last 5 years. In 2012 or 2013, it was ranked 201-225. Now, it’s 111. That’s a big jump. This improvement has been consistent over the last 5 years and across all the metrics, including teaching, research, and citation.  

Dr. Song  We have a so–called university vision, a 10–year development strategy. We established our first vision plan—Vision 2010—in 1998. Samsung offers us financial support. They joined the university in 1996. Right after that, we agreed that we were going to transform Sungkyunkwan University from a teaching university to a research university. All our efforts were directed at nurturing and educating our students, but we were not concerned about creating new knowledge through research. 

We want to be the leading research university worldwide. So, from 1998 to 2010, we just laid the foundation, a solid springboard, and in 2011, we rolled out Vision 2020. When we established that vision in 2011, we set our goal as a truly global leading university. We set a goal for coming in the top 50 universities in the world and top 10 universities in Asia. 

Also, Samsung invested a lot of funds. Samsung supports us a lot in carrying out our plans in specific areas. I think that’s the main driving force for our growth. 

Your focus has shifted from education to research and now to world-class research. That must have been very challenging to execute. How did you push for growth and motivate people to execute the vision and plan? 

Dr. Song  As you can imagine, to transform from a teaching school to a research university, you need to have faculty members who are capable of carrying out global–level research. So, right after we announced Vision 2010, we tried to recruit faculty members who have done research at the global level. We recruited many good professors. We are continually expanding our pool of good faculty members. About 10 years ago, in around 2011, we had 1250 faculty members. Today, we have about 1450. About 12% are international faculty members. We try to hire Korean scholars who collaborate frequently at the international level. We first create an environment where people from different cultures feel welcomed and then invite international faculty members. The reverse doesn’t work. 

Attracting researchers 

Did you recruit aggressively? Or did you run programs that invited researchers to apply for positions and threw in benefits like a good salary and lab facilities? 

Dr. Song  We did everything you mentioned. If you are a really good researcher, you have the option of going to a renowned university. Why would you choose Sungkyunkwan University? There should be some incentive for coming here. I think Sungkyunkwan University offers a great research environment or research vehicle. We try to implement research hubs in strategic areas such as nanotechnology. We established SAINT, the SKKU Advanced Institute of Nanotechnology, which offers a holistic environment for nano-researchers. Samsung aids us with this. The monetary aspect sometimes is not that important. What matters is the research environment that allows you to produce results that have a global impact. SAINT was established in 2005. Before that, in 2000, we established the Academy of East Asian Studies., Samsung

As you know, Sungkyunkwan University has a 620–year–old history. Sungkyunkwan was the Royal Academy, and every scholar and national officer in the Joseon Dynasty had to graduate from Sungkyunkwan to become a national officer.  We have two campuses: in Seoul and in Suwon. In the Seoul campus, we established the Academy of East Asian Studies as the research hub. There are no economic benefits, but this is our heritage, so we cannot just ignore that. 

Lim Chae Hwan  This is like keeping their identity as the oldest higher education organization in modern history. When Samsung tried to invest in the university, the history of the university is one of the factors they considered. 

Research hub and long relationship with Samsung

Apart from nanotechnology, is there any other research hub? 

Dr. Song  After implementing the nano hub in 2005, we established the bio and ICT hubs. Right now, we have the nano–bio–info [nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology] in the Suwon campus. They largely cater to the natural sciences, and in 2000, we established the Academy of East Asian Studies. Right now, we are trying to establish ACT (art, culture, and technology convergence). 

Let’s talk about your association with Samsung. 

Dr. Song  We have a long history with Samsung. We first collaborated with Samsung in 1996. Samsung’s chairman Lee Byung-chul also served as the chairman of the Sungkyunkwan University Foundation. He practiced Confucianism. He understood the value of education, research, and the beauty of Confucianism. From 1956 to 1978, Mr. Lee lent his support to Sungkyunkwan University. Then, we parted for about 20 years.  

Investment is crucial for a university’s growth, but the students are poor, so only relying on their tuition is not easy. When Samsung became an established company, they wanted to conduct CSR activities. They decided to lend their support to the university again. They also wanted to have a social impact through their collaboration with the university.  

Lim Chae Hwan  Giving back to society. Education is important to secure the future of this country, so big companies like Samsung try to contribute resources to many universities.  

Dr. Song  Samsung donated a library to Sungkyunkwan University, which we now call the Samsung Library. They’ve also donated libraries to Yonsei University and Korea University.  Also, Samsung is too big, so we can’t help them directly. But the university has autonomy and we can afford to take the kind of risks that Samsung cannot.

Improving the citation score – Expanding the pool of core faculty members

Do you think the improvement in the citation metric is because of your success with recruitment? Also, after the change in management structure, how are you motivating the people who were previously associated with the university to start contributing? 

Dr. Song  If you know the university, you will realize it’s not possible to push professors. However, if we establish a strong research environment and hire really capable professors with research capabilities, they end up collaborating. For example, in SAINT (the nanotechnology hub), we invited nano–researchers from all over the world, including Professor Sumio Iijima from Japan and Professor Michael Grätzel from Switzerland. They now collaborate. We try to not only recruit our own faculty members but also facilitate collaboration among the world’s leading researchers. 

Your citation score in THE has drastically improved in the last 5 years. Were there concerted efforts towards this or did it just happen? 

Dr. Song  We try to establish research hubs in an area that’s currently hot, for example, nanotechnology, biotechnology, and ICT. We try to recruit top faculty members, what we call the core faculty. Right now, they form about 8% of the faculty members, but we want to increase it to 10%. One of the criteria to become a core faculty member is that they need to be highly cited. Last year, we had a high-profile researcher called Park Nam-Gyu selected by Clarivate Analytics. We recruited him in 2009. We recruit really capable people, and we have had three highly cited researchers selected by Clarivate Analytics—the highest among any university. Our recruitment department is constantly seeking out highly cited researchers. If they find someone, they inform the department and contact the researcher.

How does the planning department get all the information to decide which research area will be the next big thing? 

Dr. Song  There’s actually no way to predict this. We just do our best. For example, if you knew something is going to be the next big thing but you don’t have any people in that area, what are you going to do? Recruiting is not easy. You just need to move on to something for which you have the capability.  

Industry–academia collaboration in a win-win situation

How much importance does Sungkyunkwan University give industry–academia collaboration?

Dr. Song  We established SAINT with Samsung. We also started the Graphene Research Center together. Our faculty members know that we have an industry partner, and we keep inviting global companies to our campus. For example, BASF, which is the world’s number one chemical company, has its research center in our campus. BASF was really interested in OLED (organic light-emitting diode) technology. Some of our faculty members are very strong in that area. They visited us to explore the possibility of collaboration. We realized the importance of university–industry collaboration, so we struck a very attractive deal.

We now have some 50 technology and techbiz startups in our campus. Our campus houses the research center for Samsung, Siemens, SABIC (the number 3 chemical company), Kaneka, LS Mtron, and some mid-sized companies. We operated the so-called Business Incubating Center for more than 15 years. Right now, we don’t have space. Other companies are on a waiting list.

What kind of support do you lend the research center for the bigger companies?

Dr. Song  Usually, for big companies, they lead the project and we offer support, but for small companies, our professors lead the project and the companies offer support. The professors have incentives in the form of funding benefit and publications.

Do universities in South Korea proactively reach out to you?

Dr. Song  All universities are competing, so everybody wants to invite prolific professors. As I mentioned, some 20 years ago, Sungkyunkwan University was a teaching school and today it’s a research university. We’re now aiming to become an entrepreneurial university, which uses the university’s research and education resources to create values for the economy and society. But it’s difficult for the university alone to achieve this. We need to have industry partners.

Time is of the essence. The lead time from the lab to the market is decreasing, so we need to work together. The norm is for the university to complete its research and then hand over the IP to the industry so that they can start their business. But that’s a long process. A good example of a model to follow is the interrelationship between the number one entrepreneurial university, Stanford, and the entrepreneurial ecosystem offered by Silicon Valley.

Bringing about change in culture

Apart from Samsung’s funding, what is helping you get a lot of industry income?

Dr. Song  The culture. Our faculty members have a strong collaboration with the company. Changing the culture of the university is easy because professors work for an average of only 30 years. But if you don’t do anything, the culture will not change.

I understand that culture is already established. But if there are people who want to do research for a new start, not for the industry, is it difficult for the university to influence them?

Dr. Song  They are professors, so they don’t care. But as I mentioned, collaboration is a buzzword within Sungkyunkwan University and in the Korean industry. The government started encouraging industry–university collaboration in around 2000 to harness the university’s manpower for the industry.

In Korea, those who have the research capability at the global level want to be professors. Over 80% of people who meet this criterion are at universities, while the industry is lacking in this talent. So universities try to incentivize researchers and promote industry–university collaboration. In about 2006 or 2007, Samsung and LG made it big. After that, researchers from around the world flocked to them.

International outlook has also improved significantly. Sungkyunkwan University offers joint degree programs with more than 30 universities worldwide, including MIT and Peking University, and you hosted the QS-APPLE event in 2012. I saw a poster for International Summer Semester, which targets foreign students. We felt these helped Sungkyunkwan University improve its international outlook score. Can you take us through these and other initiatives?

Dr. Song  Our vision is to be a truly global leading university. International outlook is very important for us to be a global university. We left no stone unturned. Right now, we are inviting faculty members who have a global profile and network. Globalization and international collaboration are important characteristics of our university. We are planning other initiatives, but the direction is going to be different. We are looking towards Russia, India, and Africa.

Close collaboration between PR and Planning teams

We found your English website very user-friendly for foreign visitors like us. It has a lot of engaging content such as research stories and a web magazine, and many press releases that you have distributed in English on a regular basis. Which department handles this?

Dr. Song  It’s the PR team. They work 27 x 7. We also have an in-house newsletter called the Sungkyunkwan Times, for which we have dedicated reporters and a team. The PR department provides them with the support they need. The students have complete autonomy to drive this. The university just gives them a platform.

How do you position PR and promotions as a strategy of the university?

Dr. Song  We try to advertise our very good research and create a strong brand image. If we want to be a global leading university, the PR department needs to work very closely with the planning department.

Do you offer researchers support for English writing, research promotion, etc.?

Dr. Song  Yes, if they ask for support, we try to provide it within our means. We have limited resources in the PR team.

Lim Chae Hwan  Professors are involved at every step and everyone knows that PR is important, so they carry out PR activities themselves and the PR team provides support.

What’s the goal of the activities carried out by the PR department?

Dr. Song  They try to find good stories, especially professor’s research and student’s success, and famous alumni. Unfortunately, they are too tied up to handle everything from local TV coverage to newspapers and social media.

University ranking does not say everything about the university

Do you have any views on how your university is doing compared to most Korean and Japanese universities?

Dr. Song  To me, university ranking is really important, but I believe that university ranking does not say everything about the university. For example, Japanese university ranking is not as high as we expected but that doesn’t mean that Japanese universities are losing their sheen. The only issue is that the criteria for that evaluation do not capture what Japanese universities are doing.

We have more than five university ranking agencies worldwide and they have different criteria. The most common university ranking right now is the so-called research university ranking. But, as I mentioned, there is a trend towards entrepreneurial universities and different criteria are needed for their ranking.

The most important focus for universities is education and that’s what the ranking of Japanese universities reflects. They are prioritizing what they think is going to be important for the future. They don’t care about the current ranking system. But for Chinese universities, global exposure is very important. They want to be known to the worldwide community, so they care about the university ranking.

Also, the Chinese government invests a lot in their universities. I believe that our university’s rank is going to improve, but it’s not easy. The rank of Korean universities is going to stay stagnant for a while due to the large investment in Chinese universities. But the important thing is that our university has more than 600 years of history. What we are doing is quite unique. We want to keep our values, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t care about university ranking. We also want to work together with our global partners and for this university ranking is important. Even though the university rank does not fully represent the university’s capability, the ranking agencies keep changing their criteria to factor in the needs of the society, so the ranking itself has its own meaning.

Do the aims of being in the top 50 and becoming an entrepreneurial university conflict with each other?

Dr. Song  Actually, the ranking of entrepreneurial universities and research universities is the same. The number one entrepreneurial university is Stanford, which is always in the top 5.

Does your university face any challenge right now or is there any big project you have in mind which, again, may help improve the rank?

Dr. Song  Sungkyunkwan University tries to make every effort to be the global leading university in terms of research. But the students are the number one priority, so we are making efforts to emphasize the success of our students. That doesn’t mean we don’t do research, but when we do, we are going to think about our students. We are not going to conduct research to create a highly cited paper. We will do it to make our students become the next-generation researcher. We are going to engage in industry–university collaboration, not for the industry income but to nurture the CTO and CEO of the next generation. We need to nurture talented people who can drive changes. That’s what a truly global leading university does.

SUNG-JIN SONG

Dr. Sung-Jin Song is the Executive Vice President Dean of SKKU Institute for Convergence and Professor, Mechanical Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU). He received a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Seoul National University in 1981, an M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in 1983, and a Ph.D in Engineering Mechanics from Iowa State University, US, in 1991. Since 1998 he has been at Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Korea and is currently Professor of Mechanical Engineering. Currently, He is serving as Executive Vice President and Dean of SKKU Institute for Convergence, Sungkyunkwan University. He has served as Vice President for Planning & Budgeting, Dean of College of Engineering, Director of Center for Innovative Engineering Education, and Director of Sungkyunkwan University Hub Center for Innovative Engineering Education, Sungkyunkwan University. He has also served as the Founding President of the Korea Association for Innovative Engineering Education and Vice President of the Korean Society for Engineering Education.