Dear our new students to Seoul National University in the year 2022,
We cordially welcome you newcomers! We are so sorry that we are unable to meet in person because of the COVID-19 that has continued for more than two years. It’s our third time that we are unable to have face-to-face entrance ceremony. Hoping that this should be the last virtual entrance ceremony, I’m recording this video at SNU gymnasium where we normally hold the entrance ceremony. It was full of the new students and their parents, but is now empty. We are looking forward to meeting you here and everywhere on campus soon.
I truly congratulate your entrance to Seoul National University. Congratulations and thanks to your family, friends and teachers as well. You must have had a hard time taking the entrance exams due to the extraordinary difficulties caused by COVID-19. You have been admitted to Seoul National University because you have made extraordinary efforts. Rather than stressing a challenging spirit, I would like to encourage you and commend you first. We welcome you to our school. Good job!
The entrance ceremony is also an event to open a new semester. The classes will be provided face-to-face from this semester. We will, of course, do our best in the disease prevention measures until they are fully lifted up. We realized, through the past two years of online classes, how delightful and important it is to interact with our friends, colleagues, teaching assistants, professors, and staff members on campus. It will also be the first semester for the students who joined SNU in 2020 and 2021 to enjoy face-to-face classes in the full scale. In a sense, the campus will be filled with three times as many entering students from freshmen, sophomores, and juniors this spring. The campus will be full of freshness and vitality. The university is not just a place to acquire knowledge. We hope you enjoy the campus life as much as possible.
With the support for your first step as a university student, I’d like to share a few words for your life in Seoul National University.
First, enjoy learning. I’m not asking you to study hard and get a high grade. The campus life enables you to learn not only knowledge but also attitudes, viewpoints, and tastes. Please positively communicate with others to cultivate insights to view our time and the future as well. Ask yourself: How will I live my life? What kind of person should I be? Please set up your values and accumulate the intellectual, emotional, and cultural assets that will support you throughout your lifetime. Today, the university is a platform for self-directed learning. Your future is dependent upon how much you take advantage of this platform. SNU offers the best education opportunity in your major as well as dual major, minor, and self-designed major programs. You can approach various knowledge that you like to gain for yourself and for the future of the society at SNU.
Second, ask questions continuously. Doubt whatever has been considered as obvious. Never be afraid of viewing the world from a different angle and thinking differently. You cannot grow without a question. Try outrageous imaginations and foolhardy adventures from time to time. Of course, it’s a blessing that you are talented in study, and it’s commendable that you have passed the narrow gate of the university entrance. However, I ask you to be a creative problem-maker rather than a good problem-solver. Make new questions and find the answers to the question for yourself, and you can see a new horizon.
Third, cross the borders. You are the first ones in our history who have taken the integrated university entrance exam that allows students to apply to any department. However, there remains a high wall between natural science and liberal arts. For example, in a lecture at the University of Cambridge, Charles Snow, a British scientist and a novelist, mentioned that the science and humanities are ‘two cultures’ that can never be mixed with each other. There remains a gap between the ‘two cultures’ in not only Korea but also other countries. But, now is the time to make a change. Or, I should say, it is changing now. Seoul National University is increasing interdisciplinary courses to help the students to think differently beyond the boundaries of majors. In addition, the Independent Study programs enable even the undergraduate students to conduct their own research under the guidance of the professors. We hope that the Seoul National University can take the first step to tear down the borders of the conventional thoughts and systems.
Fourth, try to grow together. Now you have become the SNU members. So, please look around you and walk together with others, rather than running forward alone. Please be warm-hearted SNU members who follow the virtue of all humans, refuse any prejudice and discrimination, and take care of the tears of the losers more rather than the cheers of the winners. If not careful, the SNU members can easily become advocates of meritocracy. We ask you to consider your capabilities, not as the weapons of competition or conditions of victory for yourself, but as the social capitals that you can share with the community. The more you utilize and share, the bigger the social capitals become. We are concerned about not only the economic polarization but also the ideological and political polarization that are becoming more severe in our society. So, we request you to have a broad view of the world and flexible thoughts to understand others better and take initiative in the unification of the society.
Dear our new students in the year 2022, we hope you learn, ask questions, cross the borders, and grow together at Seoul National University. We will help you to enjoy healthy and happy campus life with our best. Once again, we sincerely congratulate and welcome you all to Seoul National University.
March 2nd, 2022
President of Seoul National University Se-Jung Oh