Cykor, a white hat hacking team in KU’s Department of Cyber Defense, has gained a worldwide reputation by winning various local and global hacking competitions. Last year, it achieved a comfortable victory and received the grand prize in SECCON, the largest competition of white hat hackers in Japan. And in April this year, three members of Cykor clinched the top prize in the CODEGATE2018 International Hacking Competition.
Regarding the outstanding performance of the department's students, Prof. Ik-rae Jeong, Dean of the Department of Cyber Defense, said, “Selecting talented students is important, but what’s more so is the development of a curriculum that helps them maximise their talent.” He added, “Our systematic four-year curriculum enables students to grow into experts in information protection. We also support them in forming social clubs, participating in global competitions or taking external training programs, thus empowering them to explore problems by themselves and to cultivate their problem solving capabilities.” The Department of Cyber Defense was jointly created with the Ministry of Defense in 2012 to produce military officers who are specialists in cyber defense and information protection. All the department's students receive a full four-year scholarship and serve as military officers for seven years after graduation. Afterward, they can choose to stay in the military as cyber defense experts or leave for other institutions like governmental agencies, research institutes, business and security firms, or legal or financial firms.
▲The team led by Prof. Seung Hun Yoo from the School of Art and Design winning the Grand Prix of the Red Dot Design Award 2014
The performance of the School of Art and Design is also outstanding. In February, the Eulji-Road Project Design Team, composed of Eunji Ko, Sojin Kim and Garam Park and supervised by Prof. Seung Hun Yoo, won the Main Prize at the iF Design Award 2018, one of the most prestigious honors in the field. The Eulji-Road Project involved the design of a mobile application that offers Location Based Service and Augmented Reality (LBS-AR). Through the application, users can access optimized information on various material outlets on the Eulji Road area in Seoul.
The team members conducted field surveys and gathered information on the tangled alleys of the Eulji area over the course of several months. Their efforts evolved into the UX design, which was praised by the iF Design judging panel for its originality, which it displayed even to the extent of considering the issue of urban regeneration.
The iF Design Award is recognized as one of the world’s three most prestigious design awards, along with the Red Dot Design Award and the International Design Excellence Award (IDEA). Since 2014, Professor Seung Hun Yoo and his team from the KU School of Art and Design have won a series of awards at such world-class design competitions. Prof. Yoo said, “A designer is not a problem solver but a problem finder.” He added, “We aim to foster talented students who are able to explore and interpret the most fundamental issues that users experience in their interaction with products, not to produce designers who only execute given designs by rote.” He also stressed, “The processes of idea depletion, the adequacy of potential solutions and the problem solving carried out during design work should be handled based on the reality of the way we live. Therefore, designers should go out on site, not just sit behind a desk, observe users and assimilate ideas. Design is ultimately more to do with the feet than the hands.”
Programs that empower students to chart a path on their own
These days a number of KU students are active in launching venture firms or creating new jobs. In particular, the Startup Station established in the KU Business School in 2016 has displayed remarkable performance, with 40% of the start-ups located at the station attracting investment from startup accelerators.
▲SECCON 2017, the largest hacking competition in Japan
Taling, a talent sharing platform, and Dodotdo, a hotel management app for the smartwatch, are some of the success stories born at the Startup Station. In addition, Soulgit, an advertisement-based global mobile game publisher, has made inroads into the US market, and stiPop, which offers an open emoticon platform, has attracted investment from an American accelerator.
The startups housed at the station pass a selection process in which less than 1 in 10 nascent companies make the cut. Each successful applicant company receives up to 5 million won for operating expenses and office space. They can also access networking and promotional/marketing consultations with KU Business School professors.
The Career Development Center supports students who are seeking job opportunities. It offers various services such as job aptitude tests, job information updates, and resume writing and interview instruction. Additional job-related information is available, including corporate presentation techniques, business advice, and internship and public contest schedules. The center also provides one-to-one career counseling and career preparation and job training programs, along with reference materials to enhance the employability of students.
The center arranges “meeting with alumni” sessions 2-4 times a year in which job information and career advice is shared with students. It also runs an interview performance enhancement camp, a mock-interview clinic, an English resume proofreading service, an English interview clinic, and a job aptitude mock test.
Thanks to such endeavors, in December 2016 the employment rate of Korea University's graduates was 73.8%, putting it in second place among Korean universities that produce over 2,000 graduates annually. KU came top in the retention rates of its graduates one year after graduation, at 91.2%.
Meanwhile, the Student Counseling Center helps students lead a psychologically healthy and happy campus life. It strives to counsel those who struggle with stress arising from interpersonal relations, family conflicts, or study or career path problems. Any KU student can receive professional counseling and psychological testing, participate in group counseling, and attend special lectures and workshops for free.
Through such innovative and comprehensive support programs, KU students are provided with every opportunity to develop their full range of talents. These endeavors are based on the firm belief of Korea University that the 20th century paradigm and mindset cannot nurture the talent required in the 21st century.
Empower students to sail on the boat they build and catch fish on their own. Select students who have a dream and ambition and prepare them to be leaders of our society in 20-30 years. These are the guiding principles of everything Korea University does.
