[Interview] Kim Eunmi, Ewha Womans University President: "We Will Lead Advanced Science with AI Embracing Humanism"

Kim Eun-mi, president of Ewha Womans University, attended an interview with this publication on the 5th wearing a jacket in the 'Ewha Green' color. President Kim said, “Green symbolizes the leaves of the pear blossom and also represents life,” adding, “Since my inauguration, I have naturally worn green clothes representing Ewha members, and the students I meet on campus really like it.”

Kim Eun-mi, President of Ewha Womans University, is being interviewed by Asia Economy. Photo by Jo Yong-jun jun21@

Meeting President Kim at the Ewha Womans University Main Building (Piper Hall), Registered Cultural Property No. 14, she said, “Based on the spirit of ‘Beopgo Changsin (法古創新)’?which means ‘learning from tradition to create something new’?I am leading Ewha’s innovation and dedicating myself to nurturing female talents who will lead Korea and the global society.”

At the time of your inauguration, you presented the 'Ewha Vision 2030+'. It included leading a sustainable society and building a platform for creativity and innovation. What achievements have been made so far?

We are striving to create a creative research ecosystem through the ‘Frontier 10-10 Research Project.’ Starting with the selection of project teams in quantum materials research, low-carbon and green energy, infectious disease treatment and response, metaverse-based communication convergence research, and digital future education, we have selected 8 leading and 12 challenging project teams to date. Alongside this, we have developed and are operating advanced curricula leading the future society of the 4th Industrial Revolution, such as the Department of Artificial Intelligence, Department of Data Science, and Major in Intelligent Semiconductor Engineering. We are also promoting projects to build an educational innovation platform through digital academic management and virtual campus construction, including a mobile student support system, intelligent academic support system E-Bot, metaverse campus construction, cyber campus advancement, and knowledge content repository establishment. The Hakgwan building, constructed in 1964, has been remodeled and partially rebuilt into a 21st-century learning space. Helen Hall, the university’s first library, has been reborn as the Ewha Advanced Library. We plan to reconstruct a significant portion of the campus into convergence, research, industry-academia cooperation, and startup spaces.

You are currently focusing heavy investment on advanced science and engineering. This seems different from Ewha Womans University’s traditional image of strength in humanities and arts.

We live in the era of the 4th Industrial Revolution and digital revolution. At the forefront of digital innovation are Artificial Intelligence (AI) and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics). Although the proportion of female students in Korea’s top 10 universities approaches 50%, only 21% of female students major in STEM fields. Women make up only 21% of science and technology researchers, and female workforce in Korea’s 12 key industries is just 12%. This is the result of complex interactions among sociocultural stereotypes, gender bias and discrimination, lack of female role models, and structural barriers. Ewha’s mission in the 4th Industrial Revolution era is to nurture advanced talents so that women are not marginalized but can contribute actively.

What are Ewha Womans University’s unique strengths in advanced science fields?

Ewha’s strength lies in the possibility of interdisciplinary convergence between science and technology based on its strong humanities, social sciences, and arts majors. From this perspective, the AI developed by our university can provide integrative solutions to social issues such as gender inequality. Ewha’s AI College nurtures core talents in AI through multidisciplinary collaboration, not just engineering majors. Our university offers a full range of AI programs from bachelor’s to doctoral levels and cultivates practical female talents leading the 4th Industrial Revolution. Given the current reality in Korea, the proportion of female talents in STEM fields is much lower than in other disciplines. Ewha will contribute to national industrial development and balance gender roles in society by nurturing top female STEM talents.

Kim Eun-mi, President of Ewha Womans University, is being interviewed by Asia Economy. Photo by Jo Yong-jun jun21@

What is your vision for traditionally strong fields at Ewha, such as the humanities?

We plan to develop the traditionally competitive humanities, social sciences, and arts fields by integrating them with AI. This is a definite strength of Ewha compared to other comprehensive universities where engineering dominates. Ewha aims to develop AI based on humanism and gender sensitivity. Reflecting the university’s identity as a women’s university, we are developing humanistic advanced technologies that use AI to resolve differences between men and women, generational gaps, and promote harmony.

What is Ewha Womans University’s international standing, and what is its globalization strategy?

Our university has 23,000 female students and nearly 1,000 faculty members. The campus covers over 550,000 square meters with 85 buildings, and there are 79 undergraduate majors. Ewha includes a medical school, two affiliated hospitals, and six affiliated and attached schools under the College of Education. Ewha is the only women’s university of this scale in the world. Alumni of Ewha are active worldwide. Now, alongside focusing on globalizing domestic talents, we aim to nurture global talents from overseas on the Ewha campus. We plan to increase the proportion of international students from the current 5% to 10%.

What kind of students does Ewha want, and what kind of female talents does it aim to nurture?

I emphasize to students not to look for role models but to become role models themselves. I tell them to be pioneers. Ewha’s goal is to nurture women who create their own paths and take steps forward even when the way is unclear. Historically, Ewha members have often been the first women in various fields in Korea. Our university seeks such enterprising talents.

What is the purpose of inviting overseas scholars such as North Korea nuclear expert Siegfried Hecker, Nobel Literature laureate J. M. G. Le Cl?zio, and Nobel Physics laureate George Smoot for special lectures?

It is to cultivate students’ global competencies. Foreign dignitaries such as Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Fran?ois Hollande, and Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid have visited Ewha. This year, Dr. Jane Goodall received an honorary doctorate from our university. This is to encourage Ewha students to share insights from global scholars and grow into global talents with a worldview encompassing the entire world.

Kim Eun-mi, President of Ewha Womans University, is being interviewed by Asia Economy. Photo by Jo Yong-jun jun21@

What efforts are being made to nurture global female leaders beyond Korea?

Every year, we send over 1,000 students to more than 100 universities in about 30 countries for exchanges. We operate exchange student programs, seasonal semester programs, faculty-led overseas dispatch programs, and major-specific programs by colleges. Considering that about 3,000 freshmen enroll annually, one in three students gains global experience each year. Since 1971, Ewha has operated the country’s first international summer university program and Ewha-Harvard Summer School, continuing overseas experiences for our students and campus experiences for foreign students. We also provide valuable academic opportunities to women from underdeveloped Asian and African countries. We run the Ewha Global Partnership Program (EGPP), a global women’s talent development program that selects female talents from developing countries and supports them with full scholarships and living expenses.

What is your vision for Ewha Womans University’s future?

The history of Ewha Womans University is not just the history of one private university but the history of women’s education and talent development in Korea. Through projects such as oral history recordings of past presidents, publication of Ewha missionary dispatch archives, and compilation of the school history for the 150th anniversary, we will reaffirm Ewha’s historical value. There are still many areas in Korea where ‘first women’ have not yet been achieved. We will develop Ewha into a university that sets new milestones in areas lacking female role models.

▶Kim Eun-mi, president of Ewha Womans University,

graduated from Ewha Womans University’s Department of Sociology and earned a Ph.D. in Sociology from Brown University in the United States. She served as a professor at the University of Southern California (USC) before joining her alma mater in 1997 and was inaugurated as the 17th president in March 2021. She has served as president of the Korean Association of International Development Cooperation and the Korean University International Exchange Association, and held positions such as member of the Presidential Regulatory Reform Committee, member of the Prime Minister’s Office International Development Cooperation Committee, and policy advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She participated in writing the UN Sustainable Development Goals report and conducted research on girls’ health and education under a Gates Foundation research project. She currently serves as vice chairperson of the Korean National Commission for UNESCO.