A survey from Professor Chong-Min Kyung, head of the Professors’ Association, was sent out to all KAIST students and professors via the school’s email system, KAIST Mail. The short survey, which comprised of four questions for professors and seven for the students to respond to, was sent on April 7 and proved relatively successful in gathering the professors’ and students’ opinions, having received responses from 420 professors and 1334 students.
In his message to the “students in training to become the next generation of leaders in science and technology,” Professor Kyung stated his desire to “show thanks and support on behalf of all who are your seniors and teachers.”
As for the Professors’ Association’s actions following the recent suicides, Professor Kyung had this to say: “Seeing the suicides of three students this year, the Association has thought through and debated over the issue of how the students can carry out their responsibilities to society, the results of which we hope can assist in the school’s future policies.” In order to best be of service to the university, he asked for each and every student’s assistance and participation with the survey, pleading for just two minutes of the students’ time to complete the survey which “has been prepared in order to overcome the difficulties that KAIST is facing.” In wrapping up his message, Professor Kyung stated his hopes that with the students’ input, the Association could “make a KAIST that brings hope to everyone.”
The results of the student and professor surveys revealed a common trend in opinions. As for the issue of the current policy on tuition fee payment applying to students with lower GPAs, over half of the professors (57%) taking part in the survey opted for abolishing this policy. On the topic of English classes, over half the professors (52%) thought that deciding on the language of instruction based on each course’s traits and objectives was best. An overwhelming majority voted for changing the mandatory nature of the Freshman Design Course (FDC) – a staggering 79% of professor respondents favored the suggestion of allowing students to decide for their own depending on their desired majors. As for what factors they see as most important for the students’ character development, the most popular choices were “Students’ proactive approach in applying to athletic, academic and creative programs” and “Various cultural and creative tuition activities.”
When asked the same questions, the students were also quite keen on the idea of removing the current tuition fee payment regulations (45%) and deciding on the language of instruction by the nature of each course (53%). 66% wanted to make FDC an optional class and as might be expected, a similar number of students believed that they were spending too much time on FDC-related work.