By: Park Hwan-hee
(English Lang. & Lit., 3)
In today's globalized world, universities are no exception in the battle to achieve international competitiveness. Therefore, the chief administrator must promote the school internationally, give satisfaction to its members, and most importantly, communicate effectively with different groups related to the university.
First of all, the president of a university must promote the school in many different ways. The college entrance exam score may work as an effective barometer in defining the school's quality inside Korea, but it would not mean much in the international stage. So the president must think of another way to promote the school's quality and competency. Making good homepages with lots of visual materials of the university would be a way since the Internet enables one to reach any websites from anywhere. Holding international conferences and seminars at the university would be another way. But the best way would be to expand the school's international exchange student and exchange professor programs, both in the number of the students and professors sent out, and in the number of the countries that they are being sent to. If many predominant students and professors of a university are spread worldwide and show excellent achievements, the image and the competitiveness of the university will rise dramatically.
What is more important in making the school a truly competitive one is by satisfying the key consumers, the students. Most university students are burdened and unsatisfied because what they get from the school seems to be less than the high tuition. A good administrator would provide more scholarship and other ways of financial support. Also, the president could improve the quality of the lectures by extending student evaluation on courses and hiring academically renowned professors. Improving the "hardware" of education, for example, the classroom environment and facilities, library facilities and student welfare organization are just some examples.
Another group for the administrator to satisfy is the faculty. By providing financial support and creating desirable environment on researching and lecturing, the administrator would be able to satisfy them.
When students and professors get what they want, each group will pay back in their own way, either by making excellent academic achievement, or by feeling content about the school and promoting positive aspects of the university.
Lastly, and most importantly, a president of a university must consider effective communication. Communication is the way one can identify the problem and draw out a solution. It is also needed for effective administration, because the labor must be divided between many other staffs since the president cannot possibly take care of all work.
Communication with students and professors is also important in order to find out what is needed. Although it is impossible to meet the needs of each individual student or professor, it would be possible to collect the general opinion and communicate with the representatives of different groups. Even though Korean universities and students generally tend to be confronted with each other in many situations, the representatives of the school and the students will be able to draw out a reasonable solution by staying open to conversations.
Also needed is communication with local inhabitants. By communicating with the locals, it will be possible to establish what kind of role a university should fill in the modern society, which will help to decide its role in the global village, too.
The sole effort of one good administrator will not be enough to increase the international competitiveness of a university. Each and every member of the university must work as a whole to become global. The president, as the official leader of the university group, must take care to successfully promote the school to the world and to increase the inner satisfaction of the university. Besides these two, the core of the president? job will be to prepare and lead open and effective communication with different groups inside and outside the university.