Selected Speeches
Dr. Leeserved as the President of SNU from 2006 to 2010. These are selected speeches during his presidency.
SNU-Hokkaido University Joint Symposium (Jan. 25, 2007)
HIT: 9811
Keynote Speech
At SNU-Hokkaido University Joint Symposium
President Jang-Moo Lee
January 25, 2007
Honorable Mr. President Nakamura, Vice-President Kishnami, and dear colleagues of Hokkaido University, and Ladies and Gentlemen.!
I would like to begin by expressing my sincere gratitude to the faculty and staff of Hokkaido University for the warm hospitality. I would also remiss if I didn’t remind you of President Nakamura and former President of Seoul National University, Un-Chan Chung’s continuous joint effort without which this distinguished symposium would not have materialized as it stands today.
This year, we are celebrating the Tenth Anniversary of our valuable academic partnership between Hokkaido University and Seoul National University, and in this respect, this year’s joint symposium is particularly meaningful. Over the past ten years, the two universities have been solidifying the mutual partnership through vigorous joint efforts in faculty and students exchanges, education and research activities, sharing of management strategies, and many other significant issues. Just to name a few of the accomplishments made thus far, at the college level, there has been a productive growth in the academic collaboration between the two universities, particularly in the field of engineering, natural science, veterinary science and environmental studies. At the university level, the student exchange program is now firmly established, facilitating an extremely dynamic exchange. Seoul National University values Hokkaido University as one of the most important academic partners in Japan, and will continue to make a commitment in a lasting partnership.
We live in a knowledge-based society, facing the new waves of globalization, pluralism, and syncretism. The spirit of this new age is manifesting itself with rapid changes and new developments at an overwhelming pace. Simultaneously, it is undeniable that numerous conflicts are arising as well. Within this social context, we are in an urgent need for new wisdom and new resources to overcome such discord, and reach harmony and balance. This is precisely why the role of higher education is so crucial. It is not an overstatement to say that the destinies of the nations depend on it.
In the present day, higher education is reaching beyond its traditional role of producing trained human resources for the industrial society. In our post-industrial world, its role is now expanding into cultivating harmony and balance at the national and global level. However, higher education has not yet fully risen to the task of carrying out this role, and universities are criticized at times for such neglect. The theme of this year's symposium,"Sustainable Development and Universities" is of great significance in this regard, as it provides an opportunity to examine the roles and functions of higher education in the twenty first century. In particular, I believe the presentations by two experts in this field, Professor Takeo Hondoh and Professor Jung Wk Kim, will provide new insights and inspiration.
Today, Universities all across the world are accelerating their paces towards globalization. What does it mean for a university to be “globalized”? Among the many indexes for measuring the level of globalization of a university, the most important is the scope and degree of international academic exchanges. This signifies that higher education must now embrace the trend of globalization, and also indicates that academic research confined within a nation’s boundary cannot achieve true academic excellence. Excellence now can be achieved by probing a problem in a larger global context of various perspectives all over the world. As a consequence, we are now keenly aware of the need for freeing ourselves from the national boundaries in our academic pursuits. In other words, collaboration is absolutely essential in order to meet the challenge of remapping the 21st knowledge map in which entirely new and exciting fields of knowledge such as Ethology together with Zoology, Robotics, Simulation Techniques, etc are emerging.
Ultimately, diverse academic disciplines will be restructured into organic networks, and bring academia onto a trans-disciplinary level. Our researches should no longer adhere to a single discipline, and new research methods, incorporating methodologies from various disciplines should be explored. To this end, the satellite sessions of this joint symposium will serve as an ideal platform. Traditionally, the past ten years of collaborative work in the joint symposium of Hokkaido University and Seoul National University have produced extraordinary academic results. In this joyous occasion of academic festivities, the scholars of the two universities have gathered to share their views and insights at a practical level, but on a comprehensive scope ranging across a dozen disciplines. For this very reason, I have very high hopes for this joint symposium, and I believe that the partnership will continue to contribute to the prosperity of Japan and Korea, as a stepping-stone for our leap-forward into the next age.
Tomorrow morning, I will meet President Nakamura and President-elect Hiroshi Saeki. This meeting will be a valuable chance to reflect upon the past ten years of academic exchanges between Hokkaido University and Seoul National University, and to discuss new avenues of collaboration for further progress. I would like to bring my speech to a close now as I greatly look forward to listing to today’s presentations and await tomorrow’s meeting. I have no doubt that this year's symposium will be another great success and yield abundant harvest for the two universities and two nations.
Thank you very much.
At SNU-Hokkaido University Joint Symposium
President Jang-Moo Lee
January 25, 2007
Honorable Mr. President Nakamura, Vice-President Kishnami, and dear colleagues of Hokkaido University, and Ladies and Gentlemen.!
I would like to begin by expressing my sincere gratitude to the faculty and staff of Hokkaido University for the warm hospitality. I would also remiss if I didn’t remind you of President Nakamura and former President of Seoul National University, Un-Chan Chung’s continuous joint effort without which this distinguished symposium would not have materialized as it stands today.
This year, we are celebrating the Tenth Anniversary of our valuable academic partnership between Hokkaido University and Seoul National University, and in this respect, this year’s joint symposium is particularly meaningful. Over the past ten years, the two universities have been solidifying the mutual partnership through vigorous joint efforts in faculty and students exchanges, education and research activities, sharing of management strategies, and many other significant issues. Just to name a few of the accomplishments made thus far, at the college level, there has been a productive growth in the academic collaboration between the two universities, particularly in the field of engineering, natural science, veterinary science and environmental studies. At the university level, the student exchange program is now firmly established, facilitating an extremely dynamic exchange. Seoul National University values Hokkaido University as one of the most important academic partners in Japan, and will continue to make a commitment in a lasting partnership.
We live in a knowledge-based society, facing the new waves of globalization, pluralism, and syncretism. The spirit of this new age is manifesting itself with rapid changes and new developments at an overwhelming pace. Simultaneously, it is undeniable that numerous conflicts are arising as well. Within this social context, we are in an urgent need for new wisdom and new resources to overcome such discord, and reach harmony and balance. This is precisely why the role of higher education is so crucial. It is not an overstatement to say that the destinies of the nations depend on it.
In the present day, higher education is reaching beyond its traditional role of producing trained human resources for the industrial society. In our post-industrial world, its role is now expanding into cultivating harmony and balance at the national and global level. However, higher education has not yet fully risen to the task of carrying out this role, and universities are criticized at times for such neglect. The theme of this year's symposium,"Sustainable Development and Universities" is of great significance in this regard, as it provides an opportunity to examine the roles and functions of higher education in the twenty first century. In particular, I believe the presentations by two experts in this field, Professor Takeo Hondoh and Professor Jung Wk Kim, will provide new insights and inspiration.
Today, Universities all across the world are accelerating their paces towards globalization. What does it mean for a university to be “globalized”? Among the many indexes for measuring the level of globalization of a university, the most important is the scope and degree of international academic exchanges. This signifies that higher education must now embrace the trend of globalization, and also indicates that academic research confined within a nation’s boundary cannot achieve true academic excellence. Excellence now can be achieved by probing a problem in a larger global context of various perspectives all over the world. As a consequence, we are now keenly aware of the need for freeing ourselves from the national boundaries in our academic pursuits. In other words, collaboration is absolutely essential in order to meet the challenge of remapping the 21st knowledge map in which entirely new and exciting fields of knowledge such as Ethology together with Zoology, Robotics, Simulation Techniques, etc are emerging.
Ultimately, diverse academic disciplines will be restructured into organic networks, and bring academia onto a trans-disciplinary level. Our researches should no longer adhere to a single discipline, and new research methods, incorporating methodologies from various disciplines should be explored. To this end, the satellite sessions of this joint symposium will serve as an ideal platform. Traditionally, the past ten years of collaborative work in the joint symposium of Hokkaido University and Seoul National University have produced extraordinary academic results. In this joyous occasion of academic festivities, the scholars of the two universities have gathered to share their views and insights at a practical level, but on a comprehensive scope ranging across a dozen disciplines. For this very reason, I have very high hopes for this joint symposium, and I believe that the partnership will continue to contribute to the prosperity of Japan and Korea, as a stepping-stone for our leap-forward into the next age.
Tomorrow morning, I will meet President Nakamura and President-elect Hiroshi Saeki. This meeting will be a valuable chance to reflect upon the past ten years of academic exchanges between Hokkaido University and Seoul National University, and to discuss new avenues of collaboration for further progress. I would like to bring my speech to a close now as I greatly look forward to listing to today’s presentations and await tomorrow’s meeting. I have no doubt that this year's symposium will be another great success and yield abundant harvest for the two universities and two nations.
Thank you very much.