‘President Doing’ Inauguration Ceremony … Dongmyung University’s 10th President Jeon Ho-hwan, Conversation with Distinguished Professor Insuni

Busan Mayor Park Hyung-jun, Superintendent Kim Seok-jun, and National Assembly Member Park Soo-young Deliver On-site Congratulatory Speeches

Park Soo-jong, President of the National Career and Academic Counseling Teachers Association, and Chair Pro

The inauguration ceremony of President Jeon Ho-hwan held at Dongmyung University.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] The inauguration ceremony of Dr. Jeon Ho-hwan, the 10th president of Dongmyung University, known as the ‘Doing President,’ was held on the 27th.

The ceremony took place at 2 p.m. in the main auditorium of Dongmyung University Central Library, attended by over 100 figures from various fields. The event was broadcast live on YouTube.

The epithet ‘Doing’ attached to President Jeon signifies a declarative commitment to the pursuit of practical knowledge and the cultivation of innovative talents equipped with wisdom and survival skills.

It is a new paradigm personally named by President Jeon and a university innovation slogan originating from Dongmyung University. Most attendees at the inauguration were drawn to this ‘Doing’ concept.

Park Hyung-joon, Mayor of Busan, who marked about 50 days since his inauguration, attended the ceremony and congratulated, saying, “Comprehensive industry-academia cooperation determines Busan’s future,” and “The direction pursued by President Jeon’s ‘Doing University’ aligns with that of Busan City.”

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun congratulated President Jeon’s inauguration earlier via a video message. Prime Minister Chung said, “When I met President Jeon during his tenure at Busan National University, he was a person full of passion and fragrance,” and “I hope he will leap forward as a leading small but strong university representing Korea, a Doing University.”

Former Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama also sent a video message stating, “I believe the human resources of Dongmyung University will greatly contribute to humanity.”

Kim Ki-hyun, Acting Leader of the People Power Party, sent a video message saying, “For regional development centered on universities, where the region thrives only if the university does well, Dongmyung University will be the core of regional development.”

About 100 domestic and foreign dignitaries attended the inauguration, including Busan Mayor Park Hyung-joon, Busan City Council Chairman Shin Sang-hae, Busan Metropolitan City Superintendent of Education Kim Seok-jun, National Assembly member Park Soo-young, former UN ESCAP Secretary-General Kim Hak-soo, Chairman of the National Career and Academic Counseling Teachers Association Park Soo-jong, and singer Insooni, a distinguished professor at Dongmyung University.

Current education office officials and teachers also came to congratulate President Jeon’s inauguration, attracting attention.

Among them were Oh Jung-hoon, Director of the Physical Education, Health, Arts, and Culture Department at Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education; Kwon Hyuk-je, Director of Secondary Education at Busan Metropolitan City Office of Education; Oh Kyu-seok, teacher at Seoul Gwangyoung High School and President of the Seoul Career Teachers Association; Ye Byeong-sik, teacher at Busan Daedeok Girls’ High School and President of the Busanjin Career Teachers Association; and Park Soo-jong, teacher at Busan Gwangmyeong High School and Chairman of the National Career and Academic Counseling Teachers Association.

Park Soo-jong, Chairman of the National Career and Academic Counseling Teachers Association and teacher at Gwangmyeong High School, delivered a congratulatory speech representing over 5,300 career and academic counseling teachers nationwide. He expressed strong support for Dongmyung University’s newly established ‘Do-ing University’ and its active communication education.

Also present were Seo Ui-taek, Chairman of Dongmyung Cultural Foundation, Executive Director Lee Kwan-yi, former presidents of Dongmyung University including former Minister of Information and Communication Yang Seung-taek and former Kyungil University President Lee Mu-geun, Dongmyung University Alumni Association President Kwon Chil-woo (former Vice Chairman of Busan City Council), Student Council President Lee Hyun-seok, Chair of the Professors’ Council Hwang Jong-ho, Chair of the Teachers’ Labor Union Park Young-jae, and Branch Chief of the Staff Union Lee Jae-dong.

The inauguration ceremony of Dr. Jeon Ho-hwan, the 10th president of Dongmyung University.

In his inaugural address, President Jeon pointed out that “most regional universities will inevitably have to close within 10 years,” highlighting the serious situation. He proposed five measures to nurture universities as growth engines for regions and the nation, including proportional reductions in enrollment quotas for all universities, including those in the metropolitan area and national universities, according to the declining school-age population.

He also emphasized the enactment of laws supporting the orderly withdrawal of marginal private universities and M&A among private universities, the abolition of government evaluation-based university support projects, legislation to support local governments’ assistance to universities, and the universities’ own innovation efforts.

He proposed the enactment and strengthening of laws to attract students to regional universities and urged the swift passage of the ‘Regional University Promotion Act’ and the ‘Innovation City Act,’ which increase the proportion of local talent to over 50% in public enterprise recruitment.

President Jeon also revealed three major university management plans for Dongmyung University’s ‘Byeonjeok Tonggu (變則通久 - Change leads to continuity and longevity)’: ▲ Establishment of the ‘Do-ing University’ to cultivate competencies that foster unchanging values and fundamentals regardless of the world’s changes, ▲ Advancement of the College of Engineering aiming to be like the U.S. Olin College of Engineering, ▲ Realization of a shared regional innovation platform university among universities in the Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam (Bu-Ul-Gyeong) mega-city.

The 3-No (No Grade, No Credit, No Teaching) ‘Doing University’ focuses on education through activities that realize various values (such as reading classics, singing foreign songs, stock investment, yachting, horseback riding, musicals, etc.) rather than knowledge transmission, enabling students to develop lifelong competencies. It is emphasized as the vanguard that will introduce Dongmyung University to the world.

President Jeon declared his intention to advance Dongmyung University’s College of Engineering, following the example of Olin College, which rose to the ranks of prestigious American universities within 10 years of its founding.

He pledged to lead the realization of the Bu-Ul-Gyeong mega-city to overcome the metropolitan area’s one-pole system and proposed first realizing a shared university among four universities in Nam-gu, Busan.

Immediately after the official inauguration ceremony, President Jeon jumped into another ‘Doing’ activity. He began recording a duet program with singer Insooni, a distinguished professor at Dongmyung University. The ‘Conversation with Insooni’ will be broadcast on YouTube.