Yoon Yeo-pyo, the president of CBNU, has tried to accomplish many innovative projects for CBNU and has achieved lots of fame nationally: he was awarded as the most powerful CEO in 2017, he was elected as a chairman of the Korea Association of National and Public University Presidents, and he also was elected as vice president of the Korean Council for University Education. However, there is another side of him: he really likes meeting students in person and having meals and talking with them. Let’s hear about his personal stories. Ed.




How do you interact with CBNU students?

  I really like communicating with CBNU students, so I sometimes meet them face-to-face in person and counsel them on their problems by walking with them on campus or drinking some tea with them in my office. However, even though I try to meet as many students as possible, since it is impossible to meet all of them, I usually meet representatives and listen to them. In addition, I use SNS, such as Facebook and Instagram, to keep myself updated on things that students are interested in and figure out what students really desire during their campus life.

You must be busy performing as the president, but what do you usually do in your spare time?

  Originally, my hobby was traveling because I can learn many things by exposing myself to new surroundings that I’ve never experienced. However, after I became the president of CBNU, it has been hard for me to make time for traveling, so these days I usually work out at a gym and read books instead. If I can afford time to watch documentaries, I prefer to do that. In fact, reading books and watching documentaries are quite similar to traveling because both of them bring me indirect experiences. Therefore, those things can be substitutes for traveling.

What were you like when you were a student?

  When I was a university student, I was very poor, just like everyone else who is now in the same age range as me, because at that time, we were under a dictatorship and also it was a dry spell for Korea. Therefore, I couldn’t afford to enjoy my campus life. Instead, I tried to think about how to participate in social movements with my classmates so that we could change our society into a better place. In addition, I had to do a part-time job in order to provide tuition funds for myself. I think that those kinds of things toughened me up and made me have a mind of steel, which has been the cornerstone for me to stand up to many hardships so far.

We know that much of the mass media have called you ‘a great conductor’. Do you like it or is there any other nickname you want to be called?

  I like that nickname the most. The nickname came from when I was a candidate running for CBNU president. At that time, the campaign slogan I used was, ‘I want to be a great conductor of the CBNU orchestra.’ If you think about how an orchestra works, you can understand the reason why I used that slogan. Considering that it is a university where a lot of talented professors, students and other staffs gather, I thought I needed to put a person with the right talent in the right position, just like an orchestra, so that they could be faithful to their role. I’ve never changed this conviction so far. I really hope that when I finish my term of office in the future, many people will remember me as a great conductor, and to make that come true, I will try not to forget my original intention.

You have accomplished lots of things since you became the president. Among them, what is your favorite achievement?

  The most memorable thing is that, according to the National Customer Satisfaction Index(NCSI), CBNU has been ranked 1st in terms of student satisfaction for three years in a row. I am very happy that many students and professors have been satisfied with CBNU and that CBNU has been recognized as ‘a happy university’ by others, which means that CBNU is a student-centered university. That’s why our university has received high praise.
  In fact, it has been hard for Korean high school students to enter our university: the competition of entering CBNU was one out of five in 2017, and the average score of the college scholastic ability test for entering CBNU has increased by 31 points, which indicates that our university’s status has risen gradually.

As you well know, many CBNU students, especially foreign students, could learn a lot of news through our newspaper. Would you please give them some advice?

  First, I would like to say ‘Thank you for coming’ and then ‘Sorry’ because I haven’t taken care of them as much as the Korean students. At present, over 1,100 foreign students are studying in CBNU. Considering that they could have a problem communicating with Koreans, taking classes in Korean and adjusting to Korean culture, I feel sorry for them. In order to help them to adapt to the new surroundings, the CBNU Office of International Services has operated some programs, such as the Buddy Program, and has run a counseling office for foreign students, so if they need any help, they can feel free to ask for help anytime they want so that they can concentrate on their studies and enjoy their new life in Korea. I hope that they will be able to go back to their countries with great results after they obtain their pursued degrees.

By Lee Seong-ho l shl36@cbnu.ac.kr
By Lee Ju-yeon l jy37@cbnu.ac.kr