Kang Jun-ho, Kim Hyun-chul, Lee Jae-young and Choi Hae-cheon advance as preliminary candidates

Public policy presentations set for Yeongeon and Gwanak campuses

Yoo Hong-rim, president of Seoul National University [Yonhap]
Yoo Hong-rim, president of Seoul National University [Yonhap]

Seoul National University has narrowed the field for its 29th presidential election to four preliminary candidates. Yoo Hong-rim, the sitting president who sought a second term, did not make the cut.

According to Seoul National University, the Presidential Candidate Recommendation Committee selected four preliminary candidates on Wednesday from a pool of 12 contenders. They are Kang Jun-ho, a professor at the College of Education; Kim Hyun-chul, a professor at the Graduate School of International Studies; Lee Jae-young, a professor in the College of Humanities; and Choi Hae-cheon, a professor at the College of Engineering.

A total of 12 candidates, including Yoo, had completed registration by Sept. 1. The committee then narrowed that group down to four preliminary candidates.

This election marked the first use of a weighted scoring system in the preliminary selection process. Under the new system, each committee member chose four preferred candidates and assigned them scores of one to four points; the four candidates with the highest combined scores advanced.

Yoo's bid for a second term, the biggest point of interest heading into this election, ended with his elimination at the preliminary stage. Yoo took office as the university's 28th president in February 2023. Attention had focused on whether he could become the first Seoul National University president to serve two terms since Han Sim-seok. Han served as the 11th and 12th president in the 1970s, a gap of roughly 52 years.

This election was also the first held since the university changed its rules to allow a sitting president to seek reelection without stepping down from the post. Seoul National University revised the relevant committee regulations in 2023. Under the change, an incumbent president who becomes a candidate would not need to resign from the position while campaigning for another term.

Attention is also turning to what comes next for Lee Jae-young, who is making a repeat bid after running in the 28th presidential election, and for Choi Hae-cheon, who represents the College of Engineering. In each of the three presidential elections held since the university's corporatization, an engineering professor made it onto the final list of three candidates recommended to the board of trustees. None was ultimately elected president. With Choi now among the preliminary candidates, there is renewed interest in whether the university will finally get a president from the College of Engineering.

The four preliminary candidates will hold public policy presentations at the Yeongeon campus on Sept. 17 and at the Gwanak campus on Sept. 22. After the presentations, a policy evaluation panel made up of faculty, staff and students will assess the candidates' platforms, with the evaluation scheduled for Oct. 7.

The preliminary candidates are each laying out distinct visions for the university's future and ways to strengthen its competitiveness. According to their published statements, Kang Jun-ho has put forward the vision of "a university that sets the standards of the era." He pledged to build a sustainable academic ecosystem and a network of talent and knowledge at Seoul National University. Lee Jae-young has set the goal of making the university "a global top-10 institution that leads the world and embraces humanity." He argued that Seoul National University must move beyond complacency as the country's top-ranked school and position itself at the center of the global knowledge ecosystem amid the sweeping changes brought by AI.

Following the policy evaluation, the committee will narrow the four preliminary candidates down to three final candidates to recommend to the board of trustees. The board will then select one final candidate by vote, who will be appointed by South Korea's president upon the recommendation of the minister of education.

The 29th president of Seoul National University will begin the term in February next year.


newday@heraldcorp.com