[Meet the President] University of Seoul hopes to foster global urban planners

As head of a university specializing in urban planning, Suh Soon-tak deemed it was the University of Seoul's mission to share city-building know-how with developing countries. Then came Mongolia.

After decades fostering Korea’s best city planners, Suh Soon-tak, president of the University of Seoul (UOS), hopes to spread the school’s skills and expertise to developing countries for a better cause. [PARK SANG-MOON]

Globalization has been a core pursuit for many Korean universities in recent years as they seek to attract the brightest minds from all corners of the world. The presence of foreign students across college campuses comes at a crucial time for the country, as the dipping fertility rate is swiftly changing demographics and taking a toll on school systems. Last year, Korea hosted more than 150,000 international students despite the raging Covid-19 pandemic, mostly those from Asian countries with a passion for Korean culture and language who arrived for better career prospects. In the “Meet the President” series, the Korea JoongAng Daily asks the presidents of prominent Korean universities to introduce their schools and explain their globalization strategies. -Ed.

As head of a university specializing in urban planning, Suh Soon-tak saw a fresh opportunity abroad. At a time when the global population was increasing by more than 80 million annually, and with more people flocking from rural to urban areas, the president of the University of Seoul (UOS) deemed it was his school’s mission to share city-building know-how with developing countries.

Then came Mongolia.

A UOS student explains his work to Suh at the school’s annual exhibition of urban sciences graduation projects held on campus in 2021. [UNIVERSITY OF SEOUL]

“Mongolia wasn’t on our list of options from day one,” Suh told the Korea JoongAng Daily in an interview at his office in Dongdaemun District, eastern Seoul, last month. “We initially looked into other countries, but we found gaps between our expectations and reality. Luckily with Mongolia, the obstacles seemed surmountable.”

The public university has come a long way in trying to build a campus in the East Asian nation, but more remains to be done. Suh hopes the new Yoon Suk-yeol administration will help take the final steps by discussing the plan with the Mongolian government at a summit.

“I think about the campus every day,” said Suh. “I hope for at least a partial opening before my term ends in 10 months.”

During the interview, Suh talked about his ambitions for Mongolia and how he thinks the campus would benefit both countries. The following are edited excerpts of the conversation.

Q : For those who are unfamiliar with the UOS, how would you describe your school?

A : The UOS is the only four-year public university in Korea that’s funded by a local government office. More than 60 percent of the school’s finances are backed by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, which allows us to offer affordable, high-quality education. Since the mid-1970s, the university has fostered talent to solve the various urban problems of our time regarding city planning, transportation, safety and the environment. Over the years, our school has also strived to invite bright international students to the campus with the help of Seoul’s global city network. At the International School of Urban Sciences, we run the International Urban Development Program, a master’s course through which we invite young public officials from developing countries to share our city-building know-how and experiences. Funded by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the program has trained a total of 367 students to date, including 141 from five continents who are currently enrolled. We’re also planning to establish a global campus in Mongolia as part of a broader vision to create an urban sciences hub in Northeast Asia. With financial help from Korea’s central government, we’re working to establish an urban planning educational course at the Royal University of Phnom Penh in Cambodia to help train urban experts there.

The Law School building, one of the school’s uniquely designed structures [UNIVERSITY OF SEOUL]

Q : How is the UOS different from other Korean universities?

A : We have the finest faculty, cheap tuition and dorms, various scholarships, opportunities to tour cities around the globe, a beautiful campus and a gateway to accessing Seoul’s rich policy experiences and know-how. At the graduate-school level, students can conduct all sorts of research on urban problems, smart cities and urban big data using Seoul’s public data system. During seasonal breaks, we provide internship opportunities to our students in the International Urban Development Program at the Seoul Metropolitan Government and other organizations affiliated with the city.

A pond on campus that used to serve as a reservoir before the school, which was founded as an agricultural college, got promoted to a comprehensive university in 1987 [UNIVERSITY OF SEOUL]

Q : Why are you trying to build a campus in Mongolia?

A : We initially had several other countries in mind like China, India and Vietnam. But what we realized not far into deliberations was that it’s incredibly difficult from a financial perspective to build a campus in those places. So then we began thinking about other options, and that’s when Mongolia came to mind. On top of the fact that Korea and Mongolia are on very friendly terms, Mongolia has spacious land and a huge desire to foster talent. The drawbacks, however, were a small population, cold weather and political instability. So our next job was to figure out how to overcome those obstacles.

Q : And how did that turn out?

A : With the first problem, we figured we could build the campus in the suburbs of Ulaanbaatar, the capital, given that the capital already seemed overcrowded. We also thought we could build a virtual learning system so that students living far away could attend classes easily. This would also solve the second problem regarding the weather. When it gets too cold, another option could be to invite the students to Korea, allowing them a chance to study abroad here. If we could somehow build a network connecting the UOS with other Korean universities outside the Seoul metropolitan area, we could also have the students study in other schools under a partnership program.

A site in Zuunmod, Mongolia, where the UOS plans to build its first global campus [UNIVERSITY OF SEOUL]

Q : What about the third issue with political instability?

A : Our solution to that was to build trust at the central-government level, not between local governments. We figured this should be on the agenda of a bilateral summit. If the two leaders agree on the campus and provide seed money, we’d be able to have a really strong start. We already received the green light from the Mongolian government. Now, we just need the same signal from the Korean government.

UOS officials including Suh discuss plans for the campus with Mongolia’s education minister in 2019. [UNIVERSITY OF SEOUL]

Q : What’s your ideal image of a globalized UOS?

A : An ideally globalized UOS would be one in which Korean and foreign professors, researchers and students all work together to come up with new ideas, and where their research contributes to our society and the international community.

Q : What remains to be done to turn that idea into reality?

A : As urban problems regarding housing, transportation and the environment continue to grow more serious in many cities around the world, we’re seeing an increasing demand from developing countries to share Seoul’s know-how. In light of our competitiveness in the urban sciences field, I think the UOS needs to design an exports-based educational system through which we can pass on our knowledge and experiences. On campus, we need more foreign professors and students to create an international vibe.

Q : Can you share any special moments with international students?

A : When I traveled to Mongolia in 2019 to discuss plans for the Mongolian campus, about a dozen Mongolians who introduced themselves as UOS graduates came to see me on a surprise visit. I had no idea they were coming. They thanked me for the great education and experience they had in Seoul, and I was so grateful. It was then that I felt education had no boundaries.

A video wall at the school’s Urban Big Data and AI Institute that shows municipal data [UNIVERSITY OF SEOUL]

Q : What would you like to say to students abroad who are considering studying in Korea?

A : The UOS ranked 11th in the JoongAng Ilbo’s annual college ranking last year and fourth in the educational conditions category, which factored in scholarships and the dormitory acceptance rate, among other variables. Our educational restitution rate, which shows how much we invest in education and give back to our students, is 529 percent, the highest among all national and public universities in Korea. Based on these strengths, the UOS will continuously support international students in helping them with their studies and Korean settlement.

━ President’s bio

Suh Soon-tak is the 9th president of the UOS, whose four-year term began in March 2019. He was a professor at the school’s Department of Urban Administration for nearly two decades prior. Suh played numerous roles on and off campus, including as president of the Korean Urban Management Association in 2017 and as dean of the UOS’s College of Urban Sciences from 2015 to 2017. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s in urban administration at the UOS and Ph.D. in town planning at Newcastle University in Britain.

━ About the university

Name of university University of Seoul

Type Public

Established May 1, 1918

English slogan U, Our Star!

Location Dongdaemun District, eastern Seoul

Campus size 434,003 square meters (107.24 acres)

Undergraduate colleges and departments Colleges: 8 Schools and departments: 38

Graduate schools 10

Students (2022) Undergraduates: 9,032 Postgraduates: 3,003 Total: 12,035

Academic staff (2022) 789

Administrative staff (2022) 325

Employment rate (2021) 70 percent

English websitewww.uos.ac.kr/en/main.do

Social media Instagram: @uos_official_ YouTube: youtube.com/c/universityofseoul

International students

Number of students (2022) Undergraduates: 260 Postgraduates: 271 Short-term students (language learning, exchange program): 387 Total: 918

By country (2022) China 30 percent Mongolia 12 percent Japan 10 percent Other 48 percent (67 countries)

Departments with the most international students (2022) Korean language and literature, business administration, international relations

Average tuition of self-funded undergraduate students per semester (2022) 2 million won ($1,550)

Dormitory acceptance rate (2022) Undergraduate: 16.2 percent Postgraduate 42.1 percent

BY LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]