Lessons from South Korean Universities in Driving Transformation

Raising the standards of a university to a global level is no easy task that can be achieved over a few years. I was very impressed by how determined and committed Yonsei University was when I interviewed them and with Sungkyunkwan University about their strategy to improve their THE ranking.

Universities tend to be bureaucratic and plagued with red tape. Also, managing stakeholders is a huge task, since they are very diverse and faculty members have their own research objectives, perspectives, and motivations. My experience in managing a company has shown me that employees at private companies work towards a common objective, so changing direction for them is not as difficult as it would be for a university.

An improved THE ranking does not necessarily mean that the university has transformed. In fact, none of the universities we interviewed were aiming at improving their rank, but their larger, long-term vision was to bring about continual improvements in the universities. But since THE keeps changing its ranking method to keep up with trends, keeping an eye on the ranking helps universities understand what societies expect from universities and accordingly change their management policies.

Having a clear, long-term vision and an actionable plan and resources for third-party ranking like THE could be a key. Most universities frame visions that are merely statements. They are unable to translate them into actionable and measurable plans, like achieving ranking milestones. Yonsei University is an exception.

Yonsei University, in 2015, could have ignored the rank drop and claimed that the rank does not represent the strength of the university. But they took on the challenge. The top management’s precision and speed of execution was impressive. Under the dean’s strong guidance, the strategy and planning office developed a clear understanding of their responsibilities and the overarching goal and focused on achieving their KPIs.

Like I mentioned earlier, THE’s ranking is just one measure of a university’s strength and universities can decide which aspect they want to focus on and how committed they are to bringing about change. Yonsei University is a good example of how a university can leverage its rank to transform into a global entity.

This article is part of ScienceTalks Magazine issue The Robust Transformation of South Korean Universities.