Dear Seoul National University faculty, staff, students, and alumni!

The new light of 2024, which is the Year of the Blue Dragon, shines upon us. I wish you all a year of dynamic development with a strong spirit, like a blue dragon soaring through the sky.

When I took office last year, I pledged my commitment to innovation for Seoul National University’s great transition. Today, at the start of a new year, I renew my commitment by envisioning a bold new direction for our university.

I believe that 'Educational Innovation' is the top priority of SNU, for we can justify our raison d'être only if we are able to train creative talents who proactively pioneer the future in these uncertain and rapidly changing times. Our promotion of the establishment of the 'University College,' is driven by an aim to remove customary divisions within the university, and to strengthen the education of common core and convergence competencies essential for the future society. We will thoroughly prepare for our students to receive a solid education through the new curriculum starting from March 2025.

The School of Transdisciplinary Innovations (SNUTI), to be launched this year, will also operate and develop in this direction. In addition, we will strive to ensure that the University College and SNUTI not only provide basic liberal arts education, but also strengthen major competencies and prepare the next generation of academics. We will also do our best to ensure that the university's efforts for ‘Educational Innovation’ are supported by the government and well received by society, and that our results will inspire even greater trust and support.

In the area of research, we must further enhance our creative capacity to address the serious problems that humanity faces. We have taken on a variety of challenges to advance our research capabilities, including building global clusters and advancing interdisciplinary research platforms. This new year, we will accelerate these efforts to achieve even more concrete and far-reaching results.

Furthermore, we will also embark on improving the university’s administrative organization, operations, and work processes. Such improvement of supportive administrative capabilities will be essential in order to revitalize and advance the university's core activities, including education, research, and social contribution. We will promote the transition to a more agile and horizontal organization, and increase investment and training to enhance the capabilities of our staff. This will strengthen the professionalism of our administration and raise the quality of our administrative services. I ask for the active participation of all members of SNU to help us move away from a regulation-oriented administration to a flexible and effective ‘trust-based governance.'

Dear Seoul National University family,
The year 2024 is also a time to start preparing for the 50th anniversary of the unification of Seoul National University, which is coming up in a year. There is much work to be done to realize the ideal of integration that began with the move to Gwanak Campus in 1975. Only when the various academic disciplines within Seoul National University are able to overcome their egocentrism and co-create synergies, can we truly become a comprehensive university and a world-class university.

I would like to quote the theory of‘Emergent Properties.’ The theory states that new properties that cannot be predicted by the sum of lower-level components are expressed at a higher system level through the interaction of lower-level components. I believe SNU’s ecosystem as a comprehensive university with interdisciplinary education and research is fertile soil for our own academic version of ‘Emergent Properties’to grow. The expansion of multidisciplinary education and common core competency education, the establishment of University College, global convergence research platform, and the transition to a flexible and agile administrative support system are tasks that will enable SNU to realize its creativity and revolutionize the entire higher education and research ecosystem. Let us all encourage each other in making great strides on this historic journey.

Dear members of the Seoul National University community,
I'd like to conclude my New Year's greetings with a couple more words, in addition to my hopeful plans for the new year.

First, I would like to encourage us all to reflect on our current position. Is the honorable status we enjoy today a legacy we have earned by leading the way in changing times and society, or is it simply a legacy we have inherited as a matter of practice? Our reflection will be the first step in finding the right calling for our time and society.

Let's also think about intellectual courage. Courage is the power to break out of customary habits and to drive change. True intelligence doesn't just ask questions. If questions are the desire to seek answers, courage is the power to realize the value of our answers in our lives. Let's face the challenges of the future with courage, determined to embody the values and causes we discover through our own questioning and reflection, not just in words, but in action.

Let's gather our wisdom and capabilities to make 2024 the year when an ‘innovation ecosystem' is established on the SNU campus as a center for education and research. I sincerely hope that you will always be happy and healthy in the new year, and that you will make great achievements in your respective positions.

Yours sincerely.

January 2, 2024
RYU Honglim
President of Seoul National University