How has South Korea built excellent universities?
The role of excellent universities in Korea’s economic growth
Since 1960, Korea has experienced dramatic growth, from a struggling Asian country with a GDP of only US$ 3.4 billion to becoming the 11th largest economy in the world with GDP of US$2,235 billion and an average income of US$43,000/person. In this spectacular progress, the South Korean government and big corporations such as Samsung, LG, Hyundai, Daewoo or Posco have invested and funded tens of billions of dollars in building a very small number of excellent universities with a mission to educate their most talented students to become future leaders with a clear vision, skills, integrity and great promise.. These universities have indeed played a leading role in the development of science, engineering, technology, academia and economic growth in Korea.
To set up academic and research partnerships with, and to learn the lessons from, Korean leading universities for the establishment of VinUniversity in Fall 2020, Dr. Le Mai Lan, Vingroup Vice Chairwoman cum President of VinUniversity Project, and Professor. Rohit Verma, Founding Provost of the VinUni University Project, visited and consulted with Presidents, Vice-Presidents, Deans and senior leaders of the leading Korean universities including:
1. Seoul National University: Founded in 1946, QS 2019 ranked #37 worldwide, #2 in Korea
2. Korea University: Founded in 1950, QS 2019 #83 worldwide; #3 in Korea
3. Yonsei University: Founded in 1885; QS 2019 rank #104 worldwide, #5 Korea
4. Sungkyunkwan University: Founded in 1398, QS 2019 ranked #95 worldwide, #4 in Korea
5. Pohang University of Science and Technology: Founded in 1986, QS 2019 ranked #87 worldwide, #6 in Korea
6. Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology: Founded in 1971, QS 2019 ranked #40 worldwide; #1 in Korea.
In addition to indepth discussions with senior leaders and prominent professors of these universities, visits to library and highly advancedlabs, meetings with Vietnamese graduate students and postdoc fellows provided valuable insights to the VinUniversity leadership in its mission to build a university of excellence in Vietnam.
