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'YU Saemaul Scholarship' gives scholarships to 12 students in the Department of Regional Development and Welfare Administration Total 83 million won to 83 students since 2006 in scholarship [February 19, 2013] There is a special love for juniors by graduates of the YU Department of Regional Development and Welfare Administration. Graduates who became public officers after receiving the 'Saemaul Scholarship' for 4 years founded 'YU Saemaul Scholarship' in December 2003 and since 2006, they have been awarding scholarships to about 10 students every year. This year as well at Green Narea on the 3rd floor of the Daegu Bank headquarters on the 15th, they held the '8th YU Saemaul Scholarship Grant Ceremony' where a total of 12 students such as Kim, Kwang Deok and two other freshmen, sophomore Kim, Ah Young, and Kwon, Ik Soo and 7 other juniors at the YU Department of Regional Development and Welfare Administration, where a total of 12 million won in scholarships were granted. There is now a total of 83 students in the YU Department of Regional Development and Welfare Administration who received scholarships from their seniors via the 'YU Saemaul Scholarship'. The total amount of the scholarships granted tallied up to 83 million won. At this meaningful event that continues the tradition of 'love for juniors', chairperson of the YU Saemaul Scholarship Choi, Oe Chool, president of the Daegu Gyeongbuk Development Institute Lee, Seong Keun, Department Dean Lee, Jae Mo, Professor Yi, Yang Soo and other professors of the YU Department of Regional Development and Welfare Administration, as well as graduates who are currently members of YU Saemaul Scholarship such as Park, Ui Sik, Seo, Won and Jeon, Hwa Sik (Gyeongbuk), Jeon, Jae Gyeong, Kwon, Sung Do, Ha, Young Sook (Daegu), Shin, Jun Ho (Ministry of Health and Welfare), Choi, Young Jae (certified labor attorney), Choi, Sang Yong (CFO of the Scholarship and CEO of Green Power), Jung, Eun Young, Ahn, Ji Min (Daegu Gyeongbuk Development Institute), and Dr. Choi, Jun Ho (Research Professor at the PARK CHUNG HEE Leadership Research Institute) attended the event to congratulate their juniors. At the opening address, Chairperson of the YU Saemaul Scholarship Choi, Oe Chool said, "The Saemaul Scholarship, which was received by seniors one generation ago, is continuing again in the global Saemaul Movement where everyone can live happily," and added, "There were 36 who applied for the scholarship this year, but we feel bad that we could only give scholarships to 12. We will increase the number of beneficiaries by one every year."
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"Based on the 45 year tradition of the society, I will work on the globalization of Korean aesthetics..." [February 12, 2013] Professor Min, Joo Sik (Department of Aesthetics & Art History, 59) was appointed as the new president of the Korean Society of Aesthetics. He was elected as the new president through a special meeting of the Korean Society of Aesthetics held at Seoul National University on December 14 and his term will be for two years beginning on January 2013. President Min stated, "Based on the achievements and tradition as a pivotal society for Korean humanities for the past 45 years, I will work hard to show Korea's aesthetics to the world." He also emphasized that he will work on preparing for the 20th International Congress of Aesthetics that will be held in Seoul in 2016. President Min earned his bachelor's and master's degree in aesthetics at Seoul National University and completed his PhD program at the University of Tokyo Division of Aesthetics in Japan and served as a professor at the YU College of Design and Art since 1984. He worked on educating younger students by opening the Graduate School of Aesthetics & Art History in 1988 and also served as the director of Division of Culture and Convergence in the National Research Foundation of Korea (2009-2010). He is currently serving as a committee member of the Daegu Art Museum and the president of the Daegu-Gyeongbuk Culture Management Forum. Meanwhile, the Korean Society of Aesthetics was founded in 1968 and over 500 members are actively conducting research and academic exchange. Currently, the Korean Society of Aesthetics publishes <Aesthetics>, an academic journal registered with the National Research Foundation of Korea, four times a year and it also holds research conferences and operates research subcommittees, while publishing special academic books and pursuing academic exchange with other academic societies both in Korea and abroad.
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Graduates of the College of Pharmacy Received Top Scores in 63rd and 64th Examinations Officially displays the excellent education for cultivating pharmacists [February 7, 2013] YU (President Noh, Seok Kyun) verified its excellent education for pharmacists by producing the top scorer in the National Pharmacist Examinations for two consecutive years. Recently, the National Health Personnel Licensing Examination Board (President Jung, Myung-hyun) announced the results of the 64th National Pharmacist Examination. According to this, a student who graduated from the YU College of Pharmacy in August last year scored 292 out of 300 total points (97.3%), and thus scored the highest in the nation. In the 63rd National Pharmacist Examination, Ji, Sung-min (26, College of Pharmacy), who was a senior at the time, scored 294 out of 300, scoring the highest in the nation. Thus, YU students scored the higest in the examinations for two consecutive years. On this, the YU College of Pharmacy stated, "Since its establishment in 1954, we graduated over 4,000 pharmacists over 58 years and this is the result of the tradition and capacities of the YU College of Pharmacy that contributed to improving national health," while adding, "We will use the 1.5 billion won in scholarships contributed by alumni and professors effectively to cultivate more and better pharmacists." According to the Korean Pharmaceutical Association's member report, 2,172 of the 30,194 members are from the YU College of Pharmacy, being the fifth largest alumni in the association. Meanwhile, 436 applied to the 64th National Pharmacist Examination and only 262 passed, having a passing rate of 60.1%. This was a drop of 28.8% compared to last year's 88.9% and it is the lowest percentage in the past five years.
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14th YU President Noh, Seok Kyun Begins Term Inauguration Ceremony at 2PM on the 13th at the Chunma Arts Center Chamber Hall [February 4, 2013] On February 1, 2013, Noh, Seok Kyun (photo) began his official term as the 14th president of YU. The inauguration ceremony will be held at the YU Chunma Arts Center Chamber Hall at 2PM on the 13th. President Noh, who was appointed as the 14th president of YU through an executive board meeting on December 21 of last year, will lead YU for the next 4 years with the vision 'YU, the Future: Creating a better future'. President Noh served as a ranking faculty official (deputy director of research), chairperson of the Faculty Assembly, chairperson of the University Council, chairperson of the Yeungnam Educational Foundation Normalization Committee, and the director of the Yeungnam Educational Foundation Planning and Coordination Department, making him the first YU president with experience in major positions for both the university and the foundation. He stated, "I am fully aware of the positions of both the university and the foundation so I will be able to help in creating a competitive university through communication and harmony." During his term he is planning to concentrate on 'establishing the university identity' and 'insuring substantiality for the normalization of the foundation'. He said, "I will always keep in mind the university's long-term vision and development strategies, but for the 4 years that I am the university president, I will be one who 'does what is possible' and an 'acting' president who goes to the places of the problems to resolve it." He also added, "I will not shy away from anything to achieve the two goals of first properly establishing the educational spirit of Former President Park Chung Hee, who was the founder of our university, in order to restore the honor and pride of YU members and enroot an identity for the YU, and second, to promptly normalize the in-school system that is still lacking despite the normalization of the foundation, while also expanding and making the finances of the foundation and university more internally stable." As part of the plans to establish the university identity, the 'Park Chung Hee School of Policy and Saemaul' that was opened last year will be promoted and developed into the top brand of YU. "Though we were unable to really research the leadership of Former President Park Chung-hee, who is the founder of our university, as well as Saemaul because of the political situation in Korea, we will now procure outstanding faculty, curriculum and facilities to conduct full-fledged research and education so that people both in Korea and abroad have the perception that Saemaul equals YU." Sub-strategies will be pursued in the 3 sectors of Education, Research and Administration in order to enhance internal stability. The goal is to ▲make a university that studies hard and finds employment easily, ▲make a university with outstanding professors, and to ▲make a university with good administrative services. President Noh said with emphasis, "The owners of the university are the students, professors and employees. Their competitiveness is the backbone and yardstick for the university's competitiveness." He added, "We will help students not only gain competence in their majors, but so that they will also have proper character and leadership. For this, we will invest in facilities for students and create a pleasant campus for students to study, rest and exercise in. In order to procure outstanding professors, we will properly evaluate the research achievements of new professors and for existing professors, we will enforce a personnel system that contributes to the university's development in which professors who are good at lecturing give lectures and professors who excel in research can conduct research. For excellent administrative services, we will construct a fair personnel management system to contribute to administrative specialization and efficiency." Also, President Noh is determined to do his best for the next four years for ▲expanding and specializing facilities and infrastructures to improve the competitiveness of the medical center and ▲searching for response strategies according to the decrease of the school-going population. President Noh stated, "I feel a greater sense of responsibility being appointed as the university president at this juncture of growing further following the normalization of the foundation," and added, "I will work very hard to meet the anticipations of not only the university members, but also the community and alumni. I would like to ask the community to support us so that YU's competitiveness can lead to the competitiveness of our community and society."
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Evaluated 29 sub-items in 8 fields such as curriculum, faculty, facilities and financial aid 'Outstanding' practical education such as free legal advice and mock trials [January 2, 2013] YU Law School (right) and Law School Library opened in March 2009 The YU Law School (Deam Keum, Tae-huan) received 'Certification' in the first law school evaluation held for 25 law schools across the nation. The certification is valid for five years. Korean Bar Association(KBA) Law School Evaluation Committee (chairperson Han, Boo-whan) announced the results of evaluating 25 law schools across the nation in the Attorney Education Culture Hall in Seocho-dong, Seoul on the 21st. Evaluations were made in 8 fields and 29 sub-items such as the curriculum, faculty, facilities and financial aid for the 3 years from 2009 to 2011 when the first graduates attended the school. This evaluation, which was judged on a pass/fail basis, categorized law schools that had Fs in 2 fields as suspended for certification, and re-evaluation for schools that received Fs in 3 or more fields. In result, 18 law schools such as YU, Seoul National University, Yonsei University, Ewha Womans University and Sogang University received certifications. Meanwhile 7 law schools (Korea University, Sungkyunkwan University, Chonnam National University, Chungbuk National University, Hanyang University, Kangwon National University, Dong-A University) received suspended certifications. Law schools that received suspended certifications must receive additional evaluations on fields that they scored poorly on within one year. In this evaluation, YU was assessed to be 'Outstanding' for practical education. Since 2009, free legal advice is being offered over summer break at towns without any law firms, while also limiting the number of students for practical legal classes such as mock trials to 5 to 7 students. Moreover, by procuring 11 faculty members who are former judges, prosecutors and attorneys, it was evaluated to have implemented practical education. In addition, by signing agreements with the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, Ministry of Government Legislation, Korea Legal Aid Corporation and Kim & Chang Law Firm, YU is offering high quality experience-based learning opportunities. Meanwhile, the YU Law School, which was opened in 2009 with 70 students, gave financial aid to 80% of the students, and is also providing full support in preparation of bar examinations through special lectures over summer break and employment cafes. The first 58 students graduated in February 2012 and 47 of them passed their bar examination, recording an 81% pass rate. The employment rate was 100%. Five of them were picked up as law clerks. Three of those who will graduate in February 2013 have also been confirmed to be appointed as law clerks, while one confirmed a spot in the prosecutors' office.
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received PCGG Chairman's Award Developed dehumidifier/air freshener by recycling coffee powder, earned opportunity for overseas studies worth 10 million won Another achievement following first team's first place, second team's encouragement prize [January 10, 2013] 3rd Green Leader Awarding Ceremony (from left to right: 'Saeparandae' Team Kim, Nam-ju, Lee, Chan-hee, Secretary of Presidential Committee on Green Growth(PCGG) Lee, Won-hee, Kim, Byung-soo, Jung, Hyun-ji, Korean Association for Green Campus Initiative chairman Shin, Ui-soon - photo source: HKBS) YU students were awarded 'first place' in the '3rd Green Leader Fostering Program' hosted by the Korean Association for Green Campus Initiative (KAGCI, chairman Shin, Ui-soon). Thus, YU was awarded grand prize in the first program and encouragement prize in the second program, and again first place this time around, establishing itself as a cradle of 'Green Leaders'. The 'Green Leader Fostering Program' is a project for selecting and training university students to become green leaders at their campus. It is in its third year and is sponsored by the Korea Petroleum Association and 4 oil companies (SK Energy, GS Caltex, S-Oil, Hyundai Oil Bank). The third team of 100 green leaders selected from universities around the nation in July last year led green campus activities in their universities for the past semester, and recently, the final presentation and awards ceremony was held at the Yonsei University Samsung Academic Center. In result, the 'Saeparandae' Team made up of 4 students in the School of Business such as sophomores Kim, Byung-soo and Lee, Chan-hee and juniors Kim, Nam-ju and Jung, Hyun-ji won first place receiving the 'PCGG Chairman's Award'. They also were given the opportunity for overseas education worth 10 million won. The 'Saeparandae' Team placed dehumidifiers/air fresheners made by recycling coffee powder thrown away in the school cafe and placed them all around the campus to control the indoor humidity. In addition, they placed garbage bins for paper inside of the campus and made notebooks using the collected paper and gave them away to students for free. Also, through the cooperation with the university, they took the initiative to establish the 'Campus Public Bicycle system Construction project' and the designation of smoking areas. Moreover, they publicized the smartphone application 'Tree Planet' in which trees are planted in desert areas around the world when users plant trees in the game, and was thus recognized for their campaign activities for environment-friendly, low carbon green campus. On this, Kim, Byung-soo (24, sophomore in School of Business), the leader of the 'Saeparan' Team, stated, "I am happy to be able to continue the legacy of our first and second green leader seniors and I would like to help to make the fourth green leaders be born from YU as well." He also added, "I hope that the achievements of green campus within the university will expand to the entire society in order to contribute to the establishment of a green community'.
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YU Research Institute of Protein Sensor Provides Scientific Clue to Reveal Cause of Damage by Germicide in Humidifiers Promotes skin aging and embryo inflammation, published on SCI international academic journal <Cardiovascular Toxicology> [January 7, 2013] The Research Team at YU Research Institute of Protein Sensor that scientifically proved the dangers of germicide in humidifiers (from left to right: Kim, Yong-jae, Professor Cho, Kyung-hyun, Kim, Hak-hyeon) Since the germicide in humidifiers was found to be the culprit of deaths of dozens of patients with severe lung diseases in the spring of 2011, there were over 300 reports of suspected causes nationwide. Research results that scientifically proved its correlation was revealed by a Korean university research team. The YU Research Institute of Protein Sensor's research team (director - Professor Cho, Kyung-hyun) purchased PHMG and PGH, which are the raw materials used for germicide in humidifiers and sold in the market, and used them as directed, injecting them in human blood serum protein, skin cells, blood vessel cells, and the embryos and adult forms of zebrafish to observe its physiological effects. In result, the research team discovered that PHMG and PGH had severe toxicity such as ▲acute toxicity for cardiovascular system ▲promoting aging of skin cells ▲embryo inflammation, etc. According to the research team, after observing zebrafish in water with PHMG products treated according to the recommendations (concentration placed in the water tank of humidifiers), all of the zebrafish in the PHMG (max density 0.3%) group died in 75 minutes, and in the PGH (max 10mM) group, all of the zebrafish died in 65 minutes. In particular, after analyzing the heart of the dead zebrafish, it was found that collagen fibrosis progressed quickly in the aorta. This suggests that the cause of the deaths of patients with severe lung diseases and exposed to germicide in humidifiers was closely related to the increase of acute inflammation and aorta fibrosis. Moreover, in the blood serum of the dead zebrafish the inflammatory factors doubled compared to the control group, and in its liver tissue the severe fatty liver and acute liver inflammation were also found. It was also found that the germicide in humidifiers severely damaged human skin cells as well. The research team placed the PHMG product's recommended usage on human skin cells. However, the skin death was too severe that further tests could not be progressed, and when diluting by more than ten times the recommended usage, about half of the cells died. It also promoted skin cell aging, while showing severe levels of transformation of blood vessel macrophage and cause of atherosclerosis. Macrophage is a cell that is in charge of the congenital immunity, and in the event there is transformation, it represents a higher risk of catching various diseases. Meanwhile, in the embryos of zebrafish that were injected with small amounts of PHMG and PGH, it was found that development speeds slowed down, inflammation increased, resulting in more deaths of embryos. In particular, the research team found that the development speed of embryos slowed down the most and inflammation was most severe when injected with PGH. This research, which was conducted with the support of the 'Junior Researcher Support Project' (core research) of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology(MEST) and the National Research Foundation of Korea, and the 'Undergraduate Student Research Program Support Project' of the Korea Foundation for the Advancement of Science and Creativity(KOFAC), was published on the online version of the SCI international academic journal <Cardiovascular Toxicology> (title: “Acute cardiovascular toxicity of sterilizers, PHMG and PGH: severe inflammation in human cells and heart failure in zebrafish”). In this paper, Kim, Hak-hyeon (23) a junior in the School of Biotechnology and Kim, Jae-yong (26) who is in the Master & PhD course in the Graduate School of Biotechnology participated as joint primary authors. In result, the number of SCI papers with primary authors being undergraduate students is now 6 from Professor Cho, Kyung-hyun's research lab since November 2008. Professor Cho, Kyung-hyun (44, School of Biotechnology), who oversaw this research, stated, "After the report that dozens of patients with severe lung diseases died due to suspected relations to the use of germicide in humidifiers, the humidifiers with germicide were recalled and sales stopped, but the same substance is still being used in products such as moist tissue and disinfectant sprays," adding, "This research is the first in the world to scientifically reveal one of the causes and toxicities of germicide contents can cause death, and thus, we hope that it will present a safety guideline for substances used in household goods."
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Professor Kim, Jae-gun of the Center for Undergraduate Track for Multidisciplinary Nuclear Engineers Educational Program and Manager Yoon, Dae-gil of the Nuclear Energy Obligees received the Province Governor's Citation Recognized for its excellence in fostering convergence powerful brains in the nuclear power sector [December 26, 2012] Professor Kim, Jae-gun (left) and Mr. Yoon, Dae-gil received the province governor's citation for their contributions to pursuing nuclear power policies YU (president Lee, Hyo-soo) was recognized for its excellence of the 'Convergence Nuclear Experts Fostering'. At the end of the year, YU was recognized for its contributions for pursuing nuclear power policies for Gyeongsangbuk-do and received the province governor's citation. Gyeongsanbuk-do recently selected and awarded 4 people who are members of YU and the Korea Radioactive Waste Management Corporation as contributing universities and institutes that helped establish a world-class nuclear power cluster in the East Coast with the nation's best nuclear power infrastructure. YU's Professor Kim, Jae-gun (63) of the Center for Undergraduate Track for Multidisciplinary Nuclear Engineers Educational Program and Yoon, Dae-gil (24, junior in School of Mechanical Engineering), who led the 'Nuclear Power' team, which is a Nuclear Energy Obligee, received citations from the governor of Gyeongsangbuk-do. After working at KEPCO Engineering & Construction for over 30 years, Professor Kim began working at YU from September 2011. He is contributing to the fostering of nuclear experts, which are the key element for the Gyeongsangbuk-do Nuclear Power Cluster project through lectures on 'Nuclear Power Generator Systems' and 'Nuclear Power Materials'. As the guidance professor of the 'Nuclear Power' team, he also gave special lectures to students at Jukbyeon High School located in Uljin-gun and made visits to Yeongdeok-gun Office to enhance the acceptability of nuclear power among the community. Mr. Yoon, who graduated from Uljin High School and is double majoring in multidisciplinary major in nuclear engineering, led the 'Nuclear Power' team from April to November and was recognized for his contributions in enhancing understanding and communication on nuclear power for the community through SNS PR activities using Twitter and Facebook, 'Talk Concert of Supporters for Gyeongsanbuk-do Provincial Office and YU Nuclear Energy Obligee', pursued the 'Nuclear Power Knowledge Sharing Event' with 800 students from Gyeongsan High School and Jukbyeon High School, and conducted 'Surveys on Understanding Nuclear Power' at Dongdaegu Station, Banwoldang and Jungangno. Earlier in July, he also received the top award at the evaluation for the first half of the year for 'Nuclear Energy Obligee' hosted by the Korea Nuclear Energy Promotion Agency, and first place in the nuclear power energy slogan contest. Meanwhile, YU newly opened the major in Nuclear Engineering as a convergence major from the first semester of 2011. Its overseeing department is the School of Mechanical Engineering (major of mechanical system engineering, major of mechanical design engineering, major of mechanical advanced engineering) and the Department of Civil Engineering, Department of Electrical Engineering, Department of Electronic Engineering, School of Materials Science and Engineering, and the School of Chemical Engineering are participating in this. In relation to such achievements, Professor Kim stated, "The 'Nuclear Power' team and all students majoring in nuclear engineering will become key next-generation human resources for the Korean nuclear power industry. Based on accurate and precise judgments and information on nuclear power, we will help them unfold active PR activities."
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Girls' Team from the Department of Public Administration wins '1st Thesis Competition For University Students' for Information Network Village Present success strategy and plan for information network village to reduce disparity between urban and rural regions [December 26, 2012] Department of Public Administration Team and guidance professor who won the '1st Thesis Competition For University Students' hosted by KLID (from left to right: Professor Hwang, Sung-soo, Nam, Da-reum, Hwang, Hee-jin) "I'm so happy to be able to receive this award at a nation-wide competition with my project on 'Information Network Village' that I worked on while taking a class in the 'Study of Public Administration Information System." Hwang, Hee-jin (22, senior) and Nam, Da-reum (21, junior) of the YU Department of Public Administration were given participation awards at the '1st Thesis Competition For University Students' held at the Korea Local Information Research and Development Institute (KLID). Because it was the first university students (graduate school students) thesis competition held for about 2 months since mid July on a relatively rare theme of 'strategy for promoting the operation of information network village', there was no top winner and only three participation prizes (YU, Dankook Univeristy and Chungnam University) were given the awards of the president of KLID and a cash prize. Though their grades were different, Hwang and Nam, who had strong teamwork as they took the same class since the first semester, were awarded for their thesis titled 'Strategy for Second Leap of Information Network Village' (guidance professor Hwang, Sung-soo, Department of Public Administration). The research received high scores as the thesis identified the actual status by visiting and phone interviews of 6 Information Network Villages in the region, and based on this, suggested a concrete alternative. In fact, they conducted field studies of a total of 6 Information Network Villages, including the Midae and Naedong Villages of Daegu, which they had already once visited for their class assignment during the semester. In result, in the case of Midae and Naedong Villages of Daegu that are famous for growing water parsley, sales of water parsley via e-commerce accounted for only 10% of total sales. Also, in the case of Yandong Folk Village of Gyeongju, the level of contribution of informationization to attracting visitors and sales of local specialties were found to be considerably small. Thus, they pointed out that the informationization of hardware were not directly connected to the informationization of software and the increase of income for farms, and suggested alternatives such as ▲ plans to maximize synergy effects for duplicate support ▲ operate Information Network Village together with farmers from the city ▲ establish PR strategies using SNS, and ▲ development of courses customized by theme and customer. "While going out on the field, analyzing collected data, and theoretically organizing data, I was able to learn a lot and felt a great deal of accomplishment. I was proud of myself especially after receiving this award." They added, "We are confident that making a control tower to integrate and manage overlapping projects and by utilizing the relatively younger farmers, it will be possible to breathe life into the Information Network Village" as they expressed their hopes that their suggestions will contribute to the success of the Information Network Village projects. Upon his students winning a nation-wide competition by upgrading their class assignment, Guidance Professor Hwang, Sung-soo (Department of Public Administration) said, "It is not easy for undergraduate students to win the award for their research thesis so I am very happy," while adding, "Since the success or failure of the Information Network Village is highly dependent upon closing the gaps between cities and rural areas, while promoting the local community, I am planning to look for ways to find better policies by thinking and working together with students of public administration in regular classes. Furthermore, I will be looking for ways to apply team projects with international students studying the Park Chung Hee School of Policy and Saemaul so that we can apply them in the third world nations as well."
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For Volunteering, backpacking, language course, and internships, etc Up to 1.5 million won in financial support per student [December 20, 2012] YU (president Lee, Hyo-soo) will provide 320 students the opportunity to experience the world during winter break. In order to lessen the financial burden of students, up to 1.5 million won will be provided by educational funding. 71 students of the 24th YU overseas volunteer corps will begin volunteer activities in 8 countries for 2 weeks starting on January 5, 2013 (group photo of launching ceremony for the 24th overseas volunteer corps) As part of this, YU held the launching ceremony for the 24th overseas volunteer corps at the conference room on the 3rd floor of the law school library at 3pm on the 20th. YU, which has been dispatching volunteers to foreign countries for the past 11 years, began operating the program together with UNESCO and the International Workcamp Organization (IWO) since 2010 to provide students with the opportunity to provide volunteer services while eating and sleeping with university students from around the world. This winter, 71 volunteer students will commence overseas volunteer activities in 8 countries including Kenya, Tanzania, Mexico, India, Vietnam, Laos and Indonesia for 2 to 3 weeks. Kang, Hoon (23, junior in the School of Materials Science and Engineering), who will work as a volunteer for two weeks in Laos from January 5, said, "I am very excited to be able to work with university students from around the world for two weeks to practice love without borders," and added, "I will return as a 'Y-type human resources' filled with maturity and intellect as a global citizen." One overseas program supported by educational funding that should not be forgotten is the 'Window To the World (WTW)' program. It is very popular as students plan their own theme and go on a backpacking trip, financially supported by the university such as for round-trip airfare. Competition amounts to 6 to 1. Since it began in 2002, over 1,500 students traveled the world up until the past summer break. During the winter break, 65 students will group into teams of 2 to 3 students and go on backpacking trips around the world for two to three weeks. 'OPP (Outbound Pilot Program)' is another school financed overseas dispatch program that YU boasts. Freshmen and sophomore students who are interested in studying abroad are selected and provided with a 10 week focus English training session during the semester and then given the opportunity to study English abroad during winter break. It allows students to prepare thoroughly for exchange student programs that students can apply from after their junior year. During this winter break, 78 students selected through the OPP will go to the Philippines and Australia for 5 weeks. In addition, 106 more students will be sent overseas for 8 week language courses, overseas internships, and short-term cultural experience programs. Thus, a total of 320 YU students will travel the world during this winter break. On this, YU president Lee, Hyo-soo stated, "Vacations are perfect opportunities for students to improve their global mindset and refinement as a global citizen," while adding, "YU will continue to expand support to students so that more students will have the opportunity for global experience-based education." Furthermore, to students departing for overseas volunteer work, he stated, "Participating in volunteer programs operated by UNESCO and the IWO together with other university students from around the world will be a very precious experience," and added, "I hope that you take this opportunity to construct a global human network and take care of such network for the rest of your lives. Please take special care for your safety and health and I hope to see you on campus as more developed people after two weeks."
