Be Independent, Creative to Qualify Leaders
I am delighted to see you here today. We are proud to have you join us as new members of the KAIST family.
Your parents are here today to congratulate you and to share the joy and happiness with you. They are very proud of what you have achieved, especially for becoming a member of the Class of 2008 here at KAIST. They deserve to be proud. I think it is your parents who deserve compliments and congratulations as much as you do. They have given you their love and support so that you can sit here in this ceremony today. Congratulations to the proud parents of our students! You have done a great job.
The members of Class 2008 were selected to be a part of the KAIST family not only because you are intelligent and capable but also because you have demonstrated that you are independent, creative, outgoing, personable, ethical, and considerate of others. In selecting our freshmen class this year, we were looking for people who can become leaders in the 21st century in all walks of life. We think we got the right people by accepting you. You have what it takes to be future leaders.
Some of you will become industrial leaders who create jobs for thousands of people. Others will become scholars who change the world with their new ideas and theories, scientists who help the humanity through their discoveries, and innovators who create new paradigms, industries and products. Some of you may even become political leaders who can improve the quality of life for all Korean people.
Leaders are not born. People become leaders as a result of hard work, cultivation of distinct personal characteristics, determination to succeed, persistence when faced with difficulties, and adherence to ethical and moral conduct. Leaders are also those who sacrifice themselves for others and do the things that they expect others to do. Leaders also listen carefully to contrary opinions of others. We -- the students, professors, and the staff of KAIST -- will work together to enable everyone here to have an opportunity to become future leaders of Korea and the world. Your path for leadership and success is not going to be easy or guaranteed, but I know you have what it takes ? you have the ability to learn and cultivate the important characteristics a leader must have. KAIST is a great place to acquire these leadership qualities.
Some of you may ask why you should become leaders. The World needs leaders because we have so many problems we must solve in the 21st century. At KAIST, we call these problems by the acronym “EEWS”. The first E represents energy; the second E stands for environment; W for water; and S for the sustainability of nature and natural resources. These are challenging problems that must be solved during your lifetime. KAIST is investing in ideas and devoting its scarce resources to make critical contributions toward solving these challenging problems of the 21st century. We want to cooperate with other institutions of the world in solving the problems associated with EEWS. Some of you will have opportunities to make contributions to solving these EEWS problems through your involvement in research and development at KAIST. We want you to come up with your own ideas and to work with professors on their ideas.
KAIST is a wonderful university, one of the best of its kind in the world. KAIST has outstanding professors, hard working staff, and above of all, the most intelligent students. Since its founding 37 years ago, the alumni, alumnae, and professors of KAIST have achieved a great deal as scientists, engineers, managers, and scholars. They contributed to the rapid industrialization of Korea. Your job is to make KAIST to be an even better university using your creativity, by being responsible members of KAIST, by studying hard, and by cultivating your god given innate capability.
Now that you are students of KAIST, I want to declare that you are grown-up people who have to take care of yourself. You should not expect your parents to solve your personal problems. You should not run to them whenever you have difficulties at KAIST before you try to solve them on your own. You should be independent of your parents as much as you can. When your parents begin to depend on you rather than you depending on them, you know that you are truly independent. You must act independently and be responsible for what you do. I would like to ask your parents, who are here with us or at home, to treat you as an independent and responsible person. That is one of the best things they can do for you from now on.
The purpose of the KAIST education is not to train you but to educate you. KAIST education would have failed if you can only do things you have been taught to do in the classroom. KAIST education is to enable you to define what the problem is, learn what you need to know to solve the problem, and develop creative solutions. In other words, we want you to be “thinking people,” who have the ability to solve problems even when you do not know anything about the problem at the beginning and even when you do not have the knowledge related to the problem. Leaders must know how to think, how to learn new things on their own. Leaders often plough new paths for others to follow and find new solutions that have stymied others.
I am indeed very proud of each one of you in the Class of 2008.
Welcome to KAIST, your new home away from home. KAIST will forever be a part of you, a very important part of your life. Make best use of it. Have fun, study hard, make new friends and enjoy friendship with your fellow students.
We will work together to make KAIST one of the best research universities in the world.
Feb. 11, 2008
Nam Pyo Suh
President
KAIST