The World's Only University Specializing in Energy
Korea Institute of Energy Technology (KENTECH) is scheduled to open in March next year as the world's only university specializing in energy. A groundbreaking ceremony for its campus was held in Naju, South Jeolla Province, on June 1. The unique university's first president is Yoon Eui-joon, an optoelectronic element expert who has led domestic LED research. He studied metal engineering at Seoul National University, received his PhD from MIT, and then joined AT&T Bell Labs. He returned to the university as a materials science and engineering professor in 1992. There, he led the Advanced Institute of Convergence Technology and the Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology. The board of the KEPCO Tech Educational Foundation appointed him the first president of KENTECH on June 5. The following is Business Korea’s recent interview with him: – Ed.
What is the purpose of KENTECH?
These days, energy paradigms are changing in the wake of global climate change. Energy technologies have become increasingly important for our future and the survival of our nation. Technological innovation is indispensable to secure leadership in the rapidly changing global energy market. However, South Korea’s research on energy technologies still has a far way to go and its technological strength in the field is about four years behind those of advanced countries.
Well-trained manpower is essential for South Korea to narrow the gap, as the global energy industry is transforming itself at a rapid pace. The existing methodology focusing on knowledge transfer is not enough to respond to the paradigm shift.
KENTECH will lead innovative research and education based on specialization in energy and interdisciplinary convergence. It aims to be a global cluster college working closely with the industry. It also aspires to be a global energy research hub and open platform where innovators gather together and share their achievements and resources. Students are supposed to concentrate on R&D and starting a business rather than job seeking.
To run KENTECH as envisioned, you will need generous support from the central and local governments, as well as Korea Electric Power Corp. How can you secure the necessary support?
A special law has been enacted to allow the central and local governments to use fiscal funds to support KENTECH. The budget needed to establish and operate the university by 2025 is estimated at 828.9 billion won. Of this, Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) will shoulder the establishment cost of 621 billion won. The annual operating expenses of 64.1 billion won will be covered by KEPCO, the central and local governments. The governments of South Jeolla Province and Naju City will each provide 10 billion won per year for 10 years.
What is your plan to invite talented students?
Unlike existing schools, KENTECH provides the single course of energy engineering divided into five research tracks. Students do not have to choose their majors and can design their curricula on their own in the five tracks.
We will recruit 110 Korean students each year. They will be recruited through nonscheduled (90 percent) and scheduled (10 percent) admissions programs. In the former case, document-based evaluation as the first stage will constitute half of the total score and general and creativity-centered interviews as the second stage will make up 15 percent and 35 percent, respectively.
What distinguishes us from other universities is the creativity-centered interview, which is intended to check applicants’ response to questions without answers and whole new questions. Each applicant will be given 30 minutes or so. All students will be exempted from tuition and dormitory fees.
Talented foreign students will also be required for KENTECH to go global. What is your plan?
We will recruit 30 foreign students each year. KEPCO will set target countries in view of its overseas projects and will launch campaigns there to attract students.
KEPCO’s projects are currently underway in about 27 countries worldwide. The target countries will be selected out of these and information sessions will take place there. The campaigns will take place in cooperation with those countries’ higher education institutions.
In addition, we will find talented students using global online platforms such as EDX, Coursera and Udacity.
Foreign students will be given the same benefits and financial assistance as domestic students. In the long term, global research funds will be raised and scholarships for foreign students will be expanded. We are also considering working with embassies in South Korea so that more foreign students can be interested in us.
What is your plan about the teaching staff?
KENTECH will focus on the five research fields of energy artificial intelligence (AI), new energy materials, next-generation grid, hydrogen energy, and the environment and climate. We have already completed our planning on how to invite experienced teachers, including famous scholars and young scientists.
Foreign faculty members will join us as full and associate professors from the beginning, and they will be given top-level salaries along with an environment where they can focus on their research. Various services will be provided for the members and their families at the same time.
Our search committee has attended multiple international events such as the EU-Korea Conference and the U.S.-Korea Conference to invite faculty members. Well-known scholars have already been invited as the heads of four out of our five research centers. We have recruited 22 faculty members and are in the process of hiring seven others. We believe our planned number, 50, will be reached before the opening of the university.
Please explain about the campus.
The smart campus with an area of 400,000 square meters will house zero-energy buildings with a combined floor space of 155,000 square meters. The buildings constituting the residential college will be arranged to promote interaction and communication and enable online learning anywhere in the campus.
The other features include open project-based learning (PBL) classrooms perfect for practical training and discussion, signature classrooms for interdisciplinary teaching, and maker spaces for student-led projects. The construction was initiated in May and the completion is scheduled for 2024 and 2025.
What are you planning to maximize the school’s research capabilities?
To become the center of an industry-university-research cluster, we will organize a research-oriented curriculum. At the same time, we will make systematic efforts to ensure that our research capabilities are commercially utilized. We will present industrially utilizable models based on our research outcome like, for example, Cornell Tech and Israel Institute of Technology have done.
We will provide support for startups and host startup competitions. We will also provide customized coaching for startups, mentoring by successful entrepreneurs, investor networking, and support for participation in startup competitions. We will create a startup cluster next to our campus to accommodate companies to be set up by our students and attract qualified outside firms and research institutes.
We will also make use of networks of KEPCO and the KEPCO Tech Educational Foundation for startup support. KENTECH will be a hub for energy industry growth, energy research and startups, working closely with top research institutes and colleges.
The creation of an industry-university-research cluster will also require the participation of top-notch foreign research institutes and companies. What are the carrots to attract them?
We will prepare a way to secure financial support from the central government, South Jeolla Province, and energy-related companies to attract foreign research institutes by offering generous subsidies in the form of bearing the cost of constructing R&D facilities and covering joint R&D expenses.
We will also ensure that the central and local governments come up with institutional arrangements to help the cluster around KENTECH take firm roots. To this end, we will promote the designation of the cluster as a special R&D zone eligible for various kinds of benefits.
Another carrot is to provide occupancy benefits. Land and building occupancy fees will be exempted or reduced for a certain period of time after the establishment of the research institute. In addition to this, a long list of other financial and tax benefits will be offered.
What do you say about being appointed as the first KENTECH president, and what is your vision of the university?
As KENTECH is a newly established university, I think my mission as the first president is to lay the right foundation. I will do my best to create a framework for the school in the early stages and to put institutions, cultures and systems in place.
My vision is to make KENTECH an open platform and an innovative university that leads the future energy market by cultivating the talents needed by the times and developing future technologies. I will endeavor to make KENTECH a center of convergence research that transcends interdisciplinary barriers, a university that creates innovative value by connecting ideas and research results to startups.