Yonsei School of Business stands to receive up to 5 billion won over seven years for program support for graduate students and emerging researchers after the school’s selection in September as the Educational Research Group for the Brain Korea 21 Plus (BK21+) program promoted by The Ministry of Education and the National Research Foundation of Korea.

Most of the funding will be used as research scholarships for doctoral and master’s students and up-and-coming research personnel as part of a national effort to foster world-class graduate schools and to nurture excellent researchers. Doctoral and master's students in the program will receive 1.3 million won and 700,000 won, respectively, for their monthly research scholarships. New researchers will receive 3 million won monthly.

In addition, YSB plans to draw on its own funds to provide additional research scholarships to outstanding master's and doctoral students, a step calculated to fund the BK21+ program at YSB with the highest level of scholarship benefits in Korea. Moreover, participants will receive support for academic activities overseas, including international cooperation such as long- and short-term overseas training, and participation in international conferences.

The goal of YSB's participation in the BK21+ program is to "cultivate business talents that realize social values," according to Professor Il Im, the director of the Educational Research Group. To accomplish this, the vision for the program is to "cultivate world-class educational and research personnel and achieve global top 50 research capabilities," he said. Accordingly, the Education Research Center has created four strategic areas of education, research, internationalization, and sustainability.

The selection of YSB as the “Management Talent Education to Cultivate Social Values” in the program recognized the school’s long-time focus in its business administration curricula on the inculcation of social values and achieving excellence in the areas of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, business ethics in corporate social responsibility, and North Korean business administration, all considered important social issues facing Korean society.

"The fourth phase of the BK21+ program has created an environment in which scholars can focus more on research by expanding the number of researchers who are supported by the scholarships for graduate students and new researchers," said Kil-Soo Suh, dean of YSB. "YSB will gain international research competitiveness based on the BK21+ program."

[Preparing for BK21+ Program Presentation in July, 2020]