Professor Choi Byung-il, the first Dean of the Division of International Studies (DIS), will retire on Feb. 29. In an interview with Ewha Voice, Professor Choi shared his story and the history of international studies at Ewha.
Professor Choi was appointed to Ewha in 1997 with the launch of the Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS) and contributed to the establishment and development of international studies at the university. He served as the first Dean of the Division of International Studies in 2001 and successfully launched the International Department of Ewha. He also worked as Director of the International Trade Cooperation Research Institute and Dean of the GSIS, taking the lead in nurturing female international experts.
Professor Choi, who has been active in international trade negotiations, including serving as trade negotiator of the Republic of Korea in the 1992 Korea-U.S. Telecom Negotiations, the 1993 Uruguay Round of Service Negotiations, and the WTO Basic Telecom Negotiations from 1994 to 1997, was as a policy advisory member of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, vice president of the United Nations Association of the Republic of Korea, and was a member of the National Economic Advisory Council and the president of the Korea Economic Research Institute. Additionally, he has led the academic community as president of the Korean Association of Negotiation Studies, as well as the Korean Association of Trade and Industry Studies, and the Korea International Economic Association. Currently, he is working at the Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies (KFAS) as the President and CEO, producing world leading scholars and professionals who will contribute to make the world a better place to live.
Professor Choi started his career at Ewha in March 1997. During then, the globalization strategy of the government was in its initial stage and Korea was preparing to become a member of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). In that process, the government needed an institution to train the younger generation to become global professionals. For this purpose, the GSIS was created as an international master's program with courses in English. Including Ewha, there were a total of nine graduate schools that received official approval from the government in 1997, and Professor Choi was selected as the founding GSIS professor at Ewha.
Not only was Professor Choi a passionate lecturer, but he also created several internship opportunities at international organizations, such as the World Trade Organization and the World Bank, along with the first government department internship in Korea. Such accomplishments contributed to GSIS consistently winning first place in the government's annual performance evaluation of the nine international graduate schools.
Four years after the founding of GSIS at Ewha, DIS was established at Ewha in March 2001. The department was Korea's first English-only undergraduate education program, aiming to nurture international professionals. The kindling of the foundation of DIS was from a conversation between Professor Choi and Chang Sang, a former president of Ewha, about recruiting students who had studied abroad but wanted to pursue higher education at Korean universities.
“The reason why this department is particularly meaningful is because most new departments are established with external funding,” Professor Choi said. “DIS is almost unique among Korean universities in that it was created solely by the initiative of Ewha on the premise that international education is needed.”
Upon its opening, DIS faced challenges such as biased perception toward the program, fitting into the community, and having limited access to majors taught in English. However, these problems were gradually solved by establishing general English courses and creating activities that students from DIS and other majors could enjoy together. Furthermore, Professor Choi also opened an English discussion class where students could study more about their areas of interest during their freshman year.
Leaving the campus of Ewha, Professor Choi left a special message for students. “Nowadays, many students chase after social trends or do what they are good at instead of searching for what they like,” Professor Choi said. “However, life has become longer, and to live a fruitful wonderful life, you need to do what you like. So please, during university or even after, make your unique life dream, experience the world, think big, continue to challenge yourself, and follow your heart.”
After retirement, Professor Choi is planning to continue to work at KFAS to nurture worldleading scholars and innovative professionals with the objective of becoming a bridge of social division between older and future generations.