Opportunity for Yonsei to Enhance International Presence In higher education all over the world, the trend is globalization. Accordingly, universities are striving to exchange new programs and education in order to compete successfully with competition in the global education market. The QS-APPLE Conference is at the center of this movement. The QS-APPLE Conference for the exchange of information and networking in the international higher education market was successfully held for its fourth year. For this year’s APPLE Conference, held at Yonsei University from July 8 to 12, delegations and students from 50 universities from Asia-Pacific countries visited the campus. During the conference period booths were set up all over the Engineering Research Park by these universities and created a space for the sharing of information and discussion of ideas. Through this event, Yonsei was able to enhance its global presence which will be reflected in future university rankings, reinforce the status of Korea as the center of the East-Asian belt of Korea, China, and Japan, and present plans for strengthening the competitive power of the Korean higher education market. This article will provide a panoramic view of the five-day conference. * World University Ranking Workshop Date and Venue: Tuesday, July 8, 2008, Yonsei-Samsung Library Delegates from universities worldwide gathered to examine and discuss the evaluation methods of university rankings. Martin Ince, editor of Times Higher Education and editor of the THE-QS World University Ranking explained, “Most universities in the top 100 have a faculty-student ratio of 1 to 10 or even less, but the majority of Asian universities still have a ratio of at best 1 to 20. Universities in Korea, as well as other Asian universities, must try to improve the faculty to student ratio.” Ben Sowter, Head of Research at QS also mentioned, “When we do the evaluations, universities send us information regarding the grades of incoming students, library funds, alumni donations, and the overall financial situation of the university. However, the scores for financial situation are relatively similar for most universities.” Nunzio Quacquarelli, Founder and Managing Editor of QS Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd. pointed out that “Peer review is 50 percent of the final score. We are going by the opinions of experts who are actually in the field. Considering this fact, Korean universities must work to invite qualified students from all over the world and build a curriculum that meets international standards. It has been pointed out that most of the top universities are in the U.S. or other Western countries, and this is because Asian universities have a relatively short history and consequently less accumulated funds. In consideration of this fact, we are thinking of publishing separate rankings for the Asian area.” * Opening Plenary Date and Venue: Wednesday, July 9, 2008, 3rd Engineering Hall Yonsei University President Kim Han-Joong gave the opening speech for the conference. “Global education is a central issue at Yonsei,” he remarked. “In order to expand the global scale of Yonsei, we are realizing our ‘Global 5-5-10’ Project, which aims to put five areas at Yonsei into the global top 10 within five years. Also, we are constructing our new Songdo Academic Global Complex(GAC) in order to meet the global standards of education in research and education. GAC will create a new paradigm of Korea as the hub of research and education in Korea.” Nunzio Quacquarelli, Managing Editor of QS, the group which conducts the university evaluations for The Times University Rankings, responded by thanking Yonsei for hosting this year’s conference. “Universities all over the world, including those in Korea, are very interested in the university ranking process,” he reminded the audience. “In order to enhance your rankings, internationalization, the quality of research, and the quality of the education are crucial factors.” Many foreign ambassadors to Korea and representatives from universities worldwide were present for the event, including President Lee Ki-Su of Korea University, President Suh Nam Pyo of KAIST, Vice Chancellor and President Tsui Lap Chee of the University of Hong Kong. * Yonsei President Kim Han-Joong, Interview with The Times Date and Venue: Wednesday, July 9, 2008, Underwood Hall University President Kim Han-Joong met with Martin Ince, editor of Times Higher Education and editor of the THE-QS World University Ranking for an interview. “While managing a university, I have come to truly feel the strength of the movement toward globalization,” President Kim said. “Consequently, the portion of my time that is spent on relevant work has increased considerably. Yonsei University has led Korea in globalization for a long time. Our focus was on working with universities in the U.S. and other Western countries. In the future, we plan to turn our attention to Asian countries as well.” President Kim also added, “Our GAC will provide all lectures in English for both international and domestic students. We will maintain an equal ratio of domestic to international students and complete our global project. For this goal, we will double the number of our international faculty in three or four years.” * s Title : Yonsei President Kim Han-Joong, Conversation with Tsui Lap Chee, Vice Chancellor and President of the University of Hong Kong Date and Venue: Thursday, July 10, 2008, Millennium Seoul Hotel During this meeting, President Kim Han-Joong explained the future plans of Yonsei: “We will train Yonsei students to become competitive and welcomed leaders of the world. To make this possible, we are implementing a language accreditation system, through which students will be required to qualify for two foreign languages, English and one Asian language such as Chinese or Japanese. Also, our Global 5-5-10 Project will allow us to produce research results that will make the world notice Yonsei.” Vice Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong, Tsui Lap Chee, shared the efforts of his university as well. “We will strive to create a campus which is inviting to international students as well as international chair professors.” * Closing Plenary Date and Venue: Friday, July 11, 2008,, 3rd Engineering Hall In his closing speech, Nigel Healey, Pro-Vice_Chancellor, University of Canterbury, New Zealand, QS APPLE Speaking Programme Chair announced, “Yonsei University has successfully hosted the fourth QS- APPLE Conference. This year’s conference was a good opportunity to observe the new trends in the global higher education market and exchange information among education specialists of universities.” QS APPLE Conference-------------------------- The acronym for ‘Asia-Pacific Professional Leaders in Education Conference and Exhibition', the APPLE Conference is the meeting ground for international educators, first held in 2005 by the QS Education Trust which has its headquarters in the U.K. The QS Education Trust conducts the evaluation of the top 500 international universities published by The Times every year since 2004. The 2009 QS-APPLE Conference is scheduled to be held in Malaysia and co-hosted by the University of Malaya and the University Kebangsaan Malaysia.