'Main/Branch Campus System' to be changed to 'Dual Campus System' from academic year 2014
Increases global competitiveness with IT•CT in Jukjeon, BT in Cheonan
For specialization, 14 new majors added in last 2 years, mainly for BT, humanities, social sciences
‘Drawing New Future of University Development’
Dankook University, Korea’s first 4-year private university which has pioneered models for development of Korea’s higher education by building Korea’s first regional branch campus in Cheonan and by moving the main campus out of central Seoul, has begun a new phase in advancement of its globalization and university competitiveness.
Dankook University has been a catalyst in the development of balanced higher education in Korea spanning strong education from the Seoul metropolitan region to other Korean regions by operating its main and branch campuses. Now DKU prepares to implement a campus system that focuses on specialization beginning in 2014. This is the future of DKU, where resources are distributed effectively and capabilities are enhanced through the campus integration and specialization at Jukjeon and Cheonan.
Dankook University will suggest a new model of mutual development by finding the strengths of each campus and its respective surrounding environment. One of the core development measures is to maintain balance between majors according to each campus’s specialty and not to simply restructure the university by cutting out less-popular majors and focusing only on the popular majors.
Dankook University has been preparing for departmental mergers and abolitions since 2010 to obtain integration approval from the Korean Ministry of Education. While duplicate majors made up nearly 54% of majors previously, the university gradually reduced duplicate majors to 0% in a period of just 3 years. Through this, on June 27, 2013, Dankook University received final approval from the Ministry of Education to convert to the campus system starting in 2014.
‘Enhancing Competitiveness by Specializing Campuses’
‘Jukjeon Specialized in IT/CT, Cheonan Specialized in Foreign Languages’
Dankook University has integrated its campuses in order to enhance the university’s competitiveness, focusing university competencies starting with specialization of both campuses.
Dankook University will put its main administrative facilities in Jukjeon and enhance the global competitiveness of the university by specializing the education and research with IT and CT at Jukjeon Campus and BT and foreign languages at Cheonan Campus.
Jukjeon Campus will mainly focus on humanities and social sciences, as well as IT software, applied engineering, and urban environmental architecture, all of which follow the university’s founding ideology, the university’s pursuit of the three Korean academic values of literature, history and philosophy and Dankook’s recent push in the fields of IT (Information and Technology) and CT (Cultural Contents).
Cheonan Campus will focus on medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, nano sciences and life sciences to lead the next generation in BT (Bio Technology), as well as on foreign languages to create a synergy effect from blending majors and to maximize the university’s global competitiveness by expanding practical education in foreign language.
New Majors and Major Merge for Each Campus’ Subject Strength and Specialization
Mergers and discontinuations of majors at both of Dankook University’s campuses subjective merge were decided according to the relative strength of the majors at each campus.
In 2013, 8 departments in the fields of engineering, humanities and art at Cheonan Campus (Electrical Engineering, Applied Chemical Engineering, Multimedia Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Korean Language and Literature, History, Visual Communication Design, and Instrumental Music) merged with duplicate departments at Jukjeon Campus for its IT and CT specialization.
Simultaneously, 4 departments in natural sciences at Jukjeon Campus (Chemistry, Food Science and Nutrition, Applied Physics, and Molecular Biology) and 2 foreign languages (Chinese Language and Literature and Japanese Language and Literature) merged with duplicate departments at Cheonan Campus for its BT and foreign language specialization. In 2014, Jukjeon Campus’ English Language and Literature will be merge with the same department at Cheonan Campus, and 4 undergraduate colleges (International Commerce, Business Administration, Computer Science and Engineering, Global Studies) will merge with similar colleges at Jukjeon Campus to complete its subjective integration.
Dankook University will support campus specialization by newly establishing majors suitable for each campus’ respective competencies and designated specialization.
In 2013, majors in Philosophy and Counseling were newly established at Jukjeon Campus while majors in Psychology, Marine Corps Military Science, International Sports Science, Biomedical Laboratory Science, Physical Therapy and Dental Hygiene majors were newly founded at Cheonan Campus. In 2014, British-American Studies will be added to the roster at Jukjeon Campus while Portuguese (Brazilian), Pharmaceutical Engineering, Display Engineering, Health Administration and Bio-Medical Medical Information Sciences will be added at Cheonan Campus.
During the process of the mergers, Dankook University has decreased its freshman admissions by 85 students from 5,030 to 4,945. However, 14 new majors in humanities, social sciences, life sciences, etc., were established over the past 2 years reflecting on advice from industry and the current academic climate. 3 majors (Philosophy, Counseling, and British-American Studies) out of 14 new majors have been or are being added at Jukjeon Campus, while the other 11 majors have been or are being added at Cheonan Campus. BT related academic areas like Biomedical Laboratory Science, Physical Therapy, Dental Hygiene, Health Administration, Pharmaceutical Engineering, Bio-Medical Information Systems, etc., are reflective of Cheonan Campus’s specialty.
Preparing for Additional Support for Enhancement of Major Competitiveness
Constructing New Administration System to Support Specialization
Dankook University is planning to increase each major’s competitiveness by supporting new majors and merged majors with additional finances and administrative support such as new scholarships. Also, DKU is providing various types of support like hiring new full-time faculty members to reinforce research and teaching, operating online video education and smart learning systems to provide educational convenience to students, expanding lecture exchange between campuses, increasing the number of shuttle buses coming on campus, and increasing lecture exchange for popular lectures. Dankook University now operates under a new administration system following the ‘Team and Commission System’ by overhauling the entire university administration and staff employment system from 2013 under the guidance of an external consultancy, leading to a new administrative support system suited to the needs of the recent campus integration.
The university has not only merged its policy and planning functions for faster and more effective actions and decision-making, but it also has changed the main administration, college administrations and graduate school administration to team systems, simultaneously establish an effective task management system along with a university-wide customer service center.
‘Setting Long-Term Base for University Development’
Dankook University has prepared its long-term base for university development considering Korea’s eminent student population decrease and the need for augmentation of global competitiveness through the recent campus integration.
Now, DKU has decreased wasted investment in major duplication and can effectively invest in financial, administrative and human resources. As a result, the university expects to greatly increase in competitiveness in research and education through expansions in cooperative and integrated research. Also, as the university enjoys better financial sustainability, DKU will ride the momentum of expanding investment as a multi-campus mega-university, creating synergies with external evaluation and financial support programs.