Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)

Korea  Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) is the first and top science & technology research university in Korea. KAIST was established in 1971 as a research-focused university to foster elite human resources in science and technology. KAIST has been the gateway to advanced science & technology, innovation, and a driving engine for the development of Korea for past 4 decades. KAIST has always been touted as Korea’s top-notch research university of science wunderkinds and world famous faculty members. KAIST strives to address global challenges facing humanity through competitive research innovation and convergence. In the future, KAIST must become a university in which the world lays its eye upon, by discovering the best leaders, offering the best education, and becoming the envy of the academic world, not only within Korea but all over the world through the university’s first invention. The Times Higher Education (THE) published in June 2013 the list of top 100 universities less than 50 years old, and KAIST ranked third on the list. The university’s strong faculty conducts internationally recognized research in cooperation with academic institutions and companies all over the world.

KAIST has three campuses, one in Seoul, and two in Daejeon. The Seoul campus houses the College of Business. The main as well as the information and communications technology (ICT) campuses are both in Daejeon, in the center of Daedeok Innopolis, the largest scientific and technological R&D cluster in Korea. It comprises more than 1,399 government and private research institutes, startups, and venture companies.

KAIST offers academic and research programs in the following colleges: College of Natural Sciences, College of Life Science & Bioengineering, College of Engineering, College of Liberal Arts and Convergence Science, and College of Business.

 With over 300 agreements with more than 200 world-renowned universities and research institutions, KAIST has become an international hub for interdisciplinary convergence, and a prominent collaborator for academia, industry, and business, KAIST continues to make significant contributions to the world’s fast-paced economy. KAIST has successfully fostered a culture of entrepreneurship, actively supporting both student and faculty start-up activities through a host of diverse programs, events, and resources specifically tailored to allow the KAIST community to hone their business communication skills, to gain access to funding and office/lab space, resources, and equipment for producing prototypes and test-platforms, and to receive mentoring from world-renowned faculty and successful entrepreneurs.

In the late 1960s, as Korea shifted its focus from light industry to heavy industry, the lack of highly educated scientists and engineers emerged as a serious problem. Korea, then heavily dependent on foreign products and technologies, had difficulty conducting its own research and development (R&D).The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) was established in 1971 as the nation’s first graduate school specializing in science and engineering education and research. In 1986, KAIST started offering undergraduate degree programs in science and technology. In 1989, the university’s campus moved out of Seoul, the capital of South Korea, to Daejeon, about 50 minutes away by high speed train from Seoul. In 2009, KAIST merged with another public university, the Information and Communications University that had been established in 1997 and based in Daejeon as the nation’s only information technology research university. KAIST has set itself a new model for research universities in Korea and has evolved into a global research university. The university has six (6) colleges,  eleven (11) graduate schools  604 tenure track faculty and 402 staff members .

In recognition of the nations need for elite human resources in science and technology, KAIST was developed to support industrialization as part of the economic development plan. To satisfy the need of producing talents, a systematic graduate school of science and engineering was needed, to prevent international leakage of intellectual talent. KAIST launched as the nation’s first science and technology graduate school focused on research.

From the outset, KAIST has emphasized on conducting research projects in both theoretical and applied sciences. KAIST continues to be Korea’s foremost institution for mid- to long-term strategic R&D projects of national and international significance. Research at KAIST focuses on projects of basic science and technological innovation that will have the greatest impact on humanity and industrial society. KAIST has a wide range of international exchange and cooperation programs; hosts international academic conferences, workshops, and symposia ; holds academic exchanges of professors; supports exchanges of research personnel and students with overseas universities; and conducts international joint research projects.