[July 1, 2014]

 YU (President Noh Seok-kyun) was selected for the new 'University for Creative Korea' project and procured the highest national funding in the nation.

 On June 30, the Ministry of Education (Minister Seo Nam-soo) and the National Research Foundation (President Jung Min-geun) announced the results for selecting the 'University for Creative Korea' project that will newly begin from 2014. In result, YU had 8 of its project teams selected, to receive an annual total of 7 billion won each for the next five years, for a total of 35 billion won in national funding to pursue specialized projects.

 The eight project teams selected from YU are ▲ IT/Energy/BT industry customized creative chemical engineer fostering project team for the realization of a creative economy ▲ Automobile convergence parts creative human resources fostering project team ▲ Global co-prosperity human resources fostering project team ▲Parts and materials creative human resources fostering project team ▲ DREAM software human resources fostering project team ▲Cultural convergence design eco-system fostering project team ▲Multi-cultural era Korean language and culture human resources fostering project team ▲Pharmaceutical, precision chemistry specialized project team.

 YU received high scores for pursuing specialization strategies fitting to the creative academic spirit and long-term college development strategies, as well as for presenting a mutual growth road map of the region and university through association with local industries.

 In particular, the 'IT/Energy/BT industry customized creative chemical engineer fostering project team for the realization of a creative economy' selected for the regional strategic project type is expected to lead the co-development in link with the region's major industry of the automobile industry. This project team is supervised by the YU School of Mechanical Engineering, and participated by the YU Department of Information and Communication Engineering, Kyungpook National University Department of Electrical Engineering and Department of Energy Engineering.

 The 'Global co-prosperity human resources fostering project team' supervised by the Park Chung Hee School of Policy and Saemaul and the Department of Saemaul and International Development also lead global social contribution activities of the university and is expected to play the role of a hub that configures the creative academic spirit and long-term development strategies of YU. YU systemized the Saemaul Undong and Saemaul spirit, which helped Korea go from one of the poorest countries in the world to an OECD member country in just half a century, into an academic science, while striving to spread it to the world. In November 2011, YU established the 'Park Chung Hee School of Policy and Saemaul' for a master's degree program in Saemaul sciences for leaders of underdeveloped and emerging countries for the first time in Korea and graduated the first Saemaul science masters in the world in August 2013. In June of last year, it was selected as an 'international cooperation leading university' by the Ministry of Education and in March, the Park Chung Hee School of Policy and Saemaul was ranked as the top institute for master's degree programs of 'instructor and faculty fostering projects for the local development of emerging countries' by KOICA.

 YU President Noh Seok-kyun said, "Efforts for the development by both YU and Yeungnam Schools since the normalization of the foundation led to the great achievement of winning the most national funding in Korea." He added, "Selection for the specialization project is accreditation that the specialization strategies and plans of YU that focuses on areas to create industrial values and social sharing values, and thus, we will maximize results by utilizing the national funding according to the goals of the school's mid to long-term development plans and projects."

 Meanwhile, the college specialization project focuses on establishing a basis for college specialization focusing on the strengths considering the demand and features of the local society, and it was enacted for the first time this year by the Ministry of Education in order to promote improvements in schools. For this, a total of 1.2 trillion won in national funding will be invested for the next five years from 2014 made up by 203.1 billion won for provincial universities and 54.6 billion won for colleges in the Seoul area. This year, a total of 989 project teams from 160 of the 195 four-year universities in Korea applied for this program. Through quantitative evaluations for the past two months, as well as stage 1 university presentations, and stage 2 project team presentations and reviews by the fair verification committee, the final project teams were confirmed.