On May 4, KAIST hosted “Town Hall Meeting: The Next Fifty Years of KAIST” in Jung Geun Mo Conference Hall (E9) and streamed it simultaneously on YouTube. The Town Hall Meeting lasted for three hours from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. and was composed of two sessions: a Q&A session with President Kwang Hyung Lee, and a discussion and Q&A session with the Vice President and professors.

President Kwang Hyung Lee presented KAIST’s culture strategy, QAIST, specifying what characteristics the KAIST talent should have. “We need to change our mindset to have a new vision and purpose. I think it's our job to have spirits [such as ‘We don’t do what others do’].” Subsequently, he presented a new vision to the students with a rocket analogy. “Students should have dreams. And to have a dream, students should go to art museums, listen to music, watch cultural performances, and read books. Don’t focus too much on your studies. Our students entered KAIST by shooting the first-stage propellant well, and now they have to shoot the second-stage propellant and move on to the world. And it’s humanities that set the direction of the second-stage propellant.” The president’s ideology is reflected in his recent activities of employing Sumi Jo and Soo-Man Lee as distinguished visiting professors and planning the establishment of a KAIST art museum.

In the first part of the Q&A session, students pointed out inconveniences they have experienced in KAIST and suggestions on how they can be improved. As a representative of undergraduate students, the Undergraduate Association “Leap” inquired about school welfare, facility improvement, and school club problems. As a representative of graduate students, the Graduate Student Association (GSA) “B-side” discussed KAIST’s future direction in solving problems that graduate students in STEM face and improving laboratory culture. When asked about how to improve the quality of campus food, the Customer Support Chief responded that while it would be difficult to support delivery costs, they are currently discussing the possibility of letting food trucks onto campus with the student council and the departments. The Associate Vice President of Student Affairs and Policy claimed that he is aware of the detrimental influence COVID-19 had on the student club culture and that he will advertise clubs both online and offline and support club-related expenses as much as possible. As the last question of the first session, GSA expressed doubts about the feasibility of the president’s “one lab, one book, one volunteer, and one venture policy”. The president of B-side said, “Graduate students work weekends and don’t have much vacation time. In that sense, it is hard to achieve your policy. Why don’t we add Charge (rest) to 3Cs?” In response, President Lee said, “It’s natural that graduate students cannot rest. It does not make sense to rest and hope to change. You have to work harder than others,” he said, conveying a message that students have to do their best to succeed.

In the second session, the school officials discussed the phenomenon of undergraduate students avoiding graduate school in STEM fields, images of KAISTians, and “Happy Laboratory Culture” with student representatives. The Provost and Executive Vice President said that in order to promote graduate school entrance, the school administration can help by gradually raising the size of the job market and improving the quality of life of graduate students. The Associate Vice President of Student Life suggested responsibility as another quality that KAISTians should have, implying that we should take responsibility to serve society instead of thinking that the privileges we received in school are free. 

The Town Hall Meeting was a meaningful event that reflected on the past fifty years of KAIST and shaped its future. President Kwang Hyung Lee stated, “All members should work hard to make KAIST the top 10 universities in 10 years,” and hoped the Town Hall Meeting would be a step towards making KAIST a world-class university.