The Korea University (KU) Diversity Council, which officially came into being in January 2019, held a forum to reveal the fruits of the research on diversity education it has been conducting since its founding and the results of its survey of the members of its campus community. The event took place in the university’s Centennial Memorial Samsung Hall on November 21st, 2019, and included a variety of activities on the theme of “Diversity, Higher Education’s Future 2019”, including presentations of research findings, talks, and a diversity photo exhibition.

In her opening address, KU Diversity Council chair Young Min emphasized that the dynamism of diversity had to become a new strength for the university, while KU president Jin Taek Chun told the audience that interest in diversity, diversity-related knowledge, and open-mindedness are in line with the university’s goal of embodying “Human K”, or a person-centered university. SNU Diversity Council chair Ki-Sun Hong gave a congratulatory address in which she said that the country that had accomplished miraculous economic growth now needed to make another leap forward and proposed that diversity promotion organizations at universities could meet this challenge. 

Next, Yonsei University professor of psychology Eun Kook Suh’s presentation ‘Beyond Homogeneity’ featured a multifaceted analysis of the reality of South Korean society’s low diversity and inclusiveness indices, and KU media studies professor Dong Hun Ma examined diversity on the university’s campus and its organizational culture from a diversity standpoint in his presentation “The KU Family: Myth vs. Reality”. KU business administration professor Jaehwan Kim introduced the Korea University Diversity Indicators (KUDI), which were developed based on diversity statistics collected by the KU Diversity Council and the results of a survey of KU students, faculty, and staff conducted in September. He also discussed meaningful differences among various groups’ perceptions of the university’s openness, inclusivity, and fairness.

The last item on the program was a 40-minute free-form discussion between Young-Shin Sun, professor emeritus at the KU Department of Psychology, and Jung-Hye Roe, National Research Foundation president and former chair of the SNU Diversity Council. Starting from a question about why the SNU Diversity Council was founded, the two shared their opinions about a variety of subjects, including the SNU Diversity Council’s achievements so far and social responsibility as part of an educational institution, the financial costs of promoting diversity, and proactive action strategies. The event concluded on the sentiment that, while the number of diversity promotion organizations at South Korean universities, which consist of those at SNU, KU, KAIST, and Seoultech, is still small in relation to the total number of universities in the country, these organizations are determined to work together to exert a positive influence on society.