KUBS Selected for ‘BK21 FOUR Project’… Aims to Foster Leaders in the Fourth Industrial Revolution   Source= Ministry of Education   KUBS(Dean: Johngseok Bae) has been selected as a large-scale education research group (Director: Jaenam Lee, Deputy Director: Joonho Hwang) for the management panel in the humanities and social sectors of the BK21 FOUR Project (Fostering Outstanding Universities for Research, 4th stage of Brain Korea 21) run by the Ministry of Education and the National Research Foundation of Korea. Selected for the third stage of BK21 PLUS(Program for Leading Universities & Students, 3rd stage of Brain Korea 21) in 2013 and receiving about KRW 4 billion over the past 7 years, KUBS has marked its way into the fourth stage of the BK21 FOUR Project.   BK21 FOUR Project, which will be running for 7 years from this year, is a project that provides monthly research scholarships to graduate students and support personnel expenses. Additionally, it supports expenses for international programs such as overseas training and other international cooperative activities to help students make devotions in their studies and research.   Dean Johngseok Bae commented: “Under KUBS’s vision – creating a global education and research ecosystem leading social value - △ we aim to establish an education and research system for creating social values △ establish an ecosystem for fostering the world's best core human resources △ globalize core human resources and start-ups in line with the era of the fourth industrial revolution." In addition, he added "Through the BK21 FOUR Project, we will strengthen the research and education capabilities to nurture outstanding individuals."   Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education, which organized the first stage (1999-2005), the second stage (2006-2012), and the third stage (2013.9-2020.8) BK21 Projects, aims to foster 19,000 master and doctorate level research personnel who will lead the fourth industrial revolution. The Ministry of Education will be supporting KRW 408 billion annually (total KRW 2.9 trillion) through the BK21 PLUS Project.

  2020 1st KUBS DT DAY Successfully Held   KUBS held the 1st DT Day to apply the changes according to digital conversion to education and research activities.   Hosted by Korea University Business School (Dean: Jae Wook Kim) and organized by the Center for Digital Transformation & Business (hereinbelow CDTB), the 2020 KUBS DT Day was held on October 23rd (Friday). KUBS DT Day was held at the Supex Hall of LG-POSCO Building and was broadcast live on YouTube and Zoom, increasing the participation of various experts, industry officials and students who want to develop their digital competence. The event was organized in the order of two keynote speeches, the mid-term presentation of the Capstone Project which is participated by the Business Analytics (hereinbelow MSBA), the mid-term presentation of the Data Utilization Competition which is part of the University Innovation Support Project, and the general evaluation and awards ceremony.    Professor Jae Wook Kim (KUBS Dean and head of CDTB Center) delivering the opening speech   Prior to the event, there was an opening speech by Jae Wook Kim, Dean of KUBS and head of the CDTB Center. "The era of digital technology in the 21st century has greatly affected our society and members' lives, which has made Digital Transformation (hereinbelow DT) essential and the general trend," said Dean Jae Wook Kim. He stated the purpose of the event by saying, "We established CDTB to share changes that take place outside of school with university members and apply them to education and research activities, and held this DT day."    Keynote speech I : Surviving in the AI Era, Park Yoo-sung (Korea University Statistics Professor)   Following the opening speech, Park Yoo-sung, a statistics professor at Korea University, began the first keynote speech under the title ‘Surviving in the AI Era.’ Professor Park analyzed future job markets based on various AI trends such as data synthesis technology, automation, and real-time customer management. "In the future, most jobs will be replaced by AI and new jobs will emerge," he said and emphasized as the following, "We should try to have the proper skills to prepare for the AI era." "Individuals should learn SQL, and universities as well as companies should also strive to foster AI talent through the development of data science platforms and deep learning frameworks," he concluded his speech by emphasizing the importance of education.   Keynote speech II : Corporate Innovation in the Digital Era, Bae Jung-hee (Vice president of Deloitte Consulting)   Bae Jung-hee, vice president of Deloitte Consulting, continued by giving the second keynote speech under the theme of "Corporate Innovation in the Digital Era." Vice president Bae said, "Since 2016, all of the top five companies in the rank of market capitalization have been digital-based companies," and suggested "Zoom Out, Zoom In" as a ‘survival of the fittest’ strategy reflecting the era. She said, "This presupposes a big future and creates the future," and added "Only when universities provide this type of education can they effectively respond to this era when the life cycle of jobs has been shortened." During the Q&A session after the lecture, there was a question about how to change the members of the organization as agile (shrewd/nimble) individuals. "If we create and maintain an agile environment, individuals can change naturally," Vice President Bae said. She concluded her lecture by reminding, "Leadership is very important in creating such an environment."   MSBA students delivering the Capstone Project mid-term presentation.   In the afternoon, the MSBA Capstone project presentation was held. A total of seven teams participated in this presentation under the theme of △Development of Customer Life Style Segment △Estimation of Oil/Raw Materials Price Using Atypical Data △Weather Risk Index for SCM △Exploring the Post COVID-19 Response Market △Reviewing Efficiency of Electric Vehicle Charging Stations centered on the Rapid Charging Station in the Seoul Ministry of Environment △Activating Direct Delivery through Customer Experience Management △Analysis and Business Utilization of Genetic Data. Each team addressed business problems and presented solutions and strategies using real data. The presentation consisted of a 20-minute presentation by team, as well as Q&A and feedback session. Jeong Ran-sook, head of Lotte Members Division, and Lee Sung-ho, head of Deloitte Consulting Team participated as the Capstone project judge. Based on their experience, the two evaluators provided in-depth questions and feedback to presenters.   Afterwards, the interim announcement of the Data Utilization Competition, which is part of the university's innovation support project, was followed. The Digital Transformation in Business (DTB) Data Utilization Competition, which was held to strengthen students' ability to find problems in the DT era and to form a consensus among members of the school on DT, is a competition to discover creative business models and ideas on the problems currently faced by companies by utilizing data provided by public or companies. Presentation consisted of listening to a general review after watching the recorded video presentation of a total of 7 teams: △Sokkeulbeogjeog (online shopping mall automation), △Cloud Sound (AI music recommendation service) △Guangdong Fisheries (decision factor for accommodation facilities) △T.O.P (improvement of start-up consulting model) △miMO (improvement of highway weak section) △ Data-minators (early diagnosis of diseases) △Start-up (break-even point prediction service for 1 person start up) △Emba (Chatbot for public administration). Based on the selected topics, each team presented a detailed project development plan using research purposes and data.   Byung Cho Kim, Vice Director of CDTB, Introducing CDTB   After the interim announcement, Byung Cho Kim, vice director of CDTB, introduced the center and Baeho Kim, Associate Dean for Research, evaluated the presentations. "We saw considerable possibilities even though it was an interim announcement, and I think you can produce more advanced results if only a few things are supplemented by the final announcement," said Associate Dean Kim to encourage the students. In addition, specific team feedback was provided and Kim explained what needs to be supplemented.   Jung Ran-sook (Female), Lotte Members Division Head (Female) and Lee Seong-Ho, Deloitte Consulting Manager(Male) reviewing the interim announcement.    In a subsequent review, Jeong Ran-sook, the head of the division, said, "I felt more than expected in terms of creativity and completeness. Some of the tasks were logical enough to be used directly in the field, so I was impressed." “Given the enthusiastic professors and school support, DT's future is bright”, she added. "I was surprised to see high-quality technical results in a short period of time," said manager Lee Sung-ho. "We will actively support the teams to solve business problems by using data and to  produce complete results."   Capstone Project Interim Announcement Lotte Members Excellence Award: Activation of immediate delivery through customer experience management, Kim Kyung-min-Kim Hyo-jeong team   Capstone Project Interim Presentation Deloitte Excellence Award: Oil/raw material price prediction using unstructured data, Joo Hyun-il and Ji Choong-geun team   2nd place in the interim presentation of the data utilization competition: improvement of the startup consulting model, T.O.P team   2nd place in the interim presentation of the data utilization competition: online shopping mall automation, Sokkeulbeogjeog team   After fierce competition, the winner of the MSBA Capstone Project's interim announcement went to the team of Kim Kyung-min and Kim Hyo-jung, who presented the theme of vitalizing immediate delivery through customer experience management, and the team of Joo Hyun-il and Ji Chung-geun, who presented the theme of predicting oil and raw material prices using unstructured data. In the Data Utilization Competition, the T.O.P team (5 members including Park Si-jeon) and the Sokkeulbeogjeog team (two members including Kim Bo-min) took second place. The honor of winning was given team Data-minators (Byun Joong-kyu and four others) on the subject of early diagnosis of Parkinson's disease using data and how to use wearable devices.   "It seems that although the event was held for the first time, it was a successful event with a high level of results," said Jae Wok Kim, Dean of KUBS. "I thank all professors, judges and students.” In addition, regarding the data utilization competition, he concluded the event by saying, "Through these studies, we will be able to produce meaningful papers with strong practical significance and take a step forward in the future, focusing on data." "We will continue to work together with various institutions to provide better experiences to students."   Meanwhile, Korea University Business Schooll established CDTB in 2019 to serve as a platform for connecting industry-academic research and leading the era of digital transformation in education and research and is planning and conducting special lectures related to this area.

Korea University E-MBA Ranked 19th in UK Financial Times Top 100 E-MBA Rankings   8 steps up from 27th in 2019...Ten consecutive years of 'domestic No. 1'       Korea University Business School (hereinbelow KUBS, Dean=Jae Wook Kim) Executive MBA (E-MBA) course ranked 19th in the world in the "2020 Top 100 EMBA Programs" by the Financial Times (FT). According to data released by FT on October 26, 2020, E-MBA of KUBS rose eight steps to 19th place from 27th in 2019, ranking first in Korea for the 10th consecutive year. It was ranked higher than the world's prestigious business school, △University of Pennsylvania: Wharton (24th) △National University of Singapore (26th) △ Columbia Business School (28th), and Korea University achieved the highest rank  since 12th in 2012 in the FT E-MBA list. This year's top prize was an E-MBA course jointly run by the U.S.-based Kellogg School of Management and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Yonsei University ranked 25th after Korea University. FT E-MBA rankings are for universities certified by AACSB and EQUIS, which are international management education certification bodies, and the criteria include i) E-MBA graduates’ △salary △salary increase  △career progress  △aims achieved ii) diversity factors such as  △female faculty/students  △international faculty/students iii) FT research ranks. The reason why Korea University's E-MBA ranking stands out is because it made it into the top 20 with its own program alone. While a number of top-ranked Asian universities jointly run degree courses with other universities, Korea University has proved that its practice-oriented curriculum, which strengthens its competence as a manager, is among the best in the world by achieving 19th place with a single program.  

(From Left) Professor Baeho Kim, President Hyun-sik Chung, KUBS Dean Jaewook Kim, MBA Vice President Won-sang Yoo   Hyun-sik Chung, the 36th president of Korea University MBA(K-MBA), contributed 1 billion won to KUBS. President Chung is a founder of well-known burger franchise ‘Mom’s Touch’ and its parental firm Haemaro Food Service. President Chung graduated the 76th K-MBA.   Introducing his experience of taking Dean Jaewook Kim’s lecture and being amazed with it, which made him decide to register into K-MBA course, President Chung mentioned that he would like to support KUBS students who need financial backup or who succeeded with high level of academic achievements. Dean Jaewook Kim replied, “I appreciate President Chung for his love to KUBS and our students. The new scholarship fund would help many students discovering their new dreams and future.”   The new “Chung Hyun-sik Scholarship Fund” will be dedicated in investing into the field of Digital Transformation in Business, where KUBS students are striving to make progresses in Digtalization of Business.    

KUBS ITS, Wins Smart Fiber Product Idea Competition     KUBS undergraduates made a great success by winning ‘The 5th 2020 ICT Smart Fiber Product Idea Competition’. It was held by Korea Fiber Export and Import Committee and Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The winners were from KUBS academic group ITS(Information Technology Society).   List of first place winners: Team ‘I SUM U’△Boseung Kim(KUBS16, Team Leader), △Suhyeon Kang(KUBS18), △Woojin Yoon(KUBS18), △Heesoo(Media 18). List of second place winners: Team ‘Doctor Sleep’ △Seyeon Choi(KUBS17, Team Leader), Hyejin Lee(Statistics 16), Dayeon Chung(Spanish 19), Yoonseo Chang(Economics 15).   Professor Byungwan Kho, the counsellor of ITS addressed his congratulatory remark, saying “ITS members are continuing great adventures in different kinds of market, by applying cutting-edge digital technologies in real business world. Despite of the difficulties due to the outbreak of COVID-19, their passion and perseverance made a great work. I am very proud of them.”       Winner Interview: Team ‘I SUM U’   1. Please introduce your team’s idea   We developed a bicycle saddle named ‘Saddle Here’, and we used several ICT Smart Fibers in its design and optimized to reduce the pain of bike rider. When a person rides a bike for a long time, they usually suffer from the pain at their hip and back or have some other dermatological issues. There are a considerable number of reasons that trigger the pain, but most of the riders do not have an advanced level of knowledge to figure out the main causes of them.   Therefore, we tried to provide a complete solution for the most riders. We found out that the main causes of the pain come from the height and angle of the bike saddle, or the temperature and humidity. After that, we put a special sensor that might change the forms of saddle according to the rider’s position, so that riders can automatically fit them into the right position.   2. Could you describe the key strategy to win the competition?   At the beginning, we had a hard time discovering a right strategy in this competition because the concept ‘ICT Smart Fiber’ was quite unusual to us. However, we focused in utilizing technology in our daily lives, and we think that was the right strategy for us.   3. How would you describe your current feeling?   Despite the difficulties caused by COVID-19, we strived to make a great result and we invested a lot of effort every day. At the bottom line, we think it was possible since we studied together in ITS, where members are passionate in combining great technologies with our lives. I would like to thank our team members and the ITS group at the same time.

90th AMP Entrance Ceremony held   The 90th AMP Entrance Ceremony was held on October 5th (Mon) at the Supex Hall of the LG-POSCO Building.   The 90th Advanced Management Program (hereinbelow AMP) of KUBS MBA (Dean: Jae Wook Kim) was held at 5 p.m. on October 5th (Monday) at the Supex Hall of LG-POSCO Building. All participants wore a mask and sat on the seats with social distancing during this event due to the COVID-19, and about 26 alumni students who entered the school this semester had their first greetings. In order to celebrate the admission of the 90th class alumni, executives of AMP alumni association, MBA Dean Jae Wook Kim, MBA Associate Dean Weon Sang Yoo, president of the AMP alumni association Kim Moon-chan, AMP professor Bae Bokyung, and other AMP alumni also attended the ceremony.   Welcoming speech by Dean Jae Wook Kim   Dean Jae Wook Kim delivered a welcoming speech by saying, "I sincerely thank you for visiting the school, even more than congratulating your admission," and added, "We have fewer students than usual due to the COVID-19, but I hope this allows you to harden the unity among the 90th class."   Congratulatory remark by president of the AMP alumni association Kim Moon-chan     President of the AMP association Kim Moon-chan said in his congratulatory remark, "I hope this will be an opportunity to meet other alumni, who will closely interact with each other even after graduation."   An introduction of the association and its affiliated organizations by secretary-general of AMP's alumni association Jeon Hyung-sik followed the congratulatory remark, together with a time for association executives to deliver greetings to the students. Afterwards, the event was wrapped up with the singing of the school song as well as a commemorative photograph. Meanwhile, Korea University's AMP program which was founded in 1975 for the first time in Korea with a 45-year-old tradition, boasts a strong network of renowned alumni in each field.