Dongmyeong University Sets Sail for University Innovation in the New Year Through 'Communication and Empathy'

‘Proud Namesake Selection’... Crowd Evaluation Through Praise, Creating a Culture of Communication and Cooperation

‘Strengthening Brand Image’... Attention-Grabbing Final Debates Including Participation by High School Students from Bu-Ul-Gyeong

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Kim Yong-woo] A large pond that captures the voices poured out by students, professors, and staff. The university's challenge to pull the ‘trigger’ of innovation in this pond of communication is drawing attention.

Dongmyung University (President Jeong Hong-seop) is accelerating distinctive internal and external relay activities to strengthen the brand image of ‘communication empathy’ and ‘innovation’ in the new year of 2021.

These include the Proud of TU Selection Contest for proud Dongmyung members, the brand image enhancement ‘HACKEGO Contest,’ and the student-centered University Innovation Support Project Program Proposal Contest.

The idea is that the start of innovation lies with students, professors, and staff. Furthermore, high school students preparing for university admission are also being absorbed as key players in innovation.

◆ Proud of TU Selection Contest

The Proud of TU Selection Contest recognizes members who have demonstrated proud actions and achievements with praise and encouragement, selecting the most recognized individuals through a ‘CROWDS’ evaluation method and awarding them.

It is an event to discover ‘treasures’ who do their best in their work while dedicating themselves to teamwork, or who quietly work for the organization and help colleagues without anyone knowing.

It is divided into faculty, staff, and student categories, and scores are calculated based on star ratings and congratulatory message replies received from members, selecting those with the highest cumulative scores.

After five weeks (January 11 to February 12) of crowd evaluation recommendations and judging, the awards ceremony is scheduled for February 22.

◆ Brand Image Enhancement HACKEGO Contest

The brand image enhancement ‘HACKEGO Contest’ is a student-led hackathon-style intense debate where students themselves discover and promote ideas to understand the university’s new specialization strategies. The excellent ideas found will be reflected in the University Innovation Support Project.

In addition to enrolled university students, high school students from the Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam regions can also participate.

The term HACKEGO is a coined word combining hacking from hackathon and marathon, with an added meaning of hacking and keep going. It also carries meanings such as overtaking competitors (GO), realizing ideas happily (GO), and promoting the brand (GO).

The contest evaluates ideas from a broad perspective linking inbound (SNS content creation and design) and outbound (online and offline event planning and operation).

Teams that pass the preliminary round will undergo two days of pre-ZOOM training on January 18-19, followed by a 12-hour contest on January 21 (09:00?21:00) with 10 university teams, 5 high school teams, and mentors participating together. The quality of ideas passing the preliminary round will be further upgraded by the finals. A total prize of 19 million KRW is at stake.

Award ceremony of the University Innovation Support Project Program Proposal Contest held last year at Dongmyung University.

◆ Student-Centered University Innovation Support Project Program Proposal Contest

In the recent student-centered University Innovation Support Project Program Proposal Contest for enrolled students, Woo In-cheol and Jang Young-min from this university won the grand prize.

Mr. Woo won with the talent-sharing idea ‘Give Out! Everything I’m good at, Hand Out! Everything I’m lacking,’ and Mr. Jang won with ‘Would You Like to Share an Empty Room?’ a share house system to solve local senior citizen issues, each receiving a grand prize of 500,000 KRW.

President Jeong Hong-seop said, “We aim to realize programs that genuinely reflect student needs, not projects for the sake of projects. We will actively communicate with many inside and outside the university and incorporate excellent ideas gathered into the third-year plan of the University Innovation Support Project.”

◆ University Innovation Support Project Group Innovation Icon ‘Ddagu’ Unveiled

In December last year, Dongmyung University introduced the University Innovation Support Project Group character ‘Ddagu,’ symbolizing the idea of ‘specialization, innovation, and cutting-edge technology packed neatly in a squirrel’s cheek,’ signaling the implementation of various innovation programs.

‘Ddagu’ is a character inspired by the curious animal, the squirrel. The cute appearance of a squirrel storing acorns in its cheeks and the Gyeongsang-do dialect word ‘bolddagu’ (cheek) inspired the character’s concept.

To symbolize Dongmyung University’s TU-AI specialization strategy, the story of ‘Ddagu’ gathering advanced devices and data accumulation neatly in its cheeks is embedded in the character.

Dongmyeong University Character Ttagu.

Dongmyung University views admission in the same context as employment. The goal is to increase on-site job experience during enrollment so that graduates can immediately enter the workforce.

At the beginning of this year, innovative academic systems such as early global industry-academia cooperation education overseas and simultaneous paid internships domestically were fully launched.

For the top 50% of freshmen in the 2021 class, early global industry-academia cooperation education will be conducted during the second-year semester, combining four weeks of language training and on-site practical experience overseas. Domestic long-term internships for half of the third- and fourth-year students will be paid internships.

President Jeong Hong-seop announced, “Through academic system innovation, all enrolled students will have vivid job experience in various domestic and international fields through a ‘learning by doing’ approach, marking a first attempt among universities nationwide.”

The university stated, “Dongmyung University, which recorded the highest employment rate among medium-to-large general universities in Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam, will continue its projects focused on employment with a spirit of challenge and creativity.”

Founded in 1977 with roots in the entrepreneurial spirit of the former local company ‘Dongmyung Mokjae,’ which once ranked first in the domestic business world, the university was among the top five nationwide in the ratio of students completing entrepreneurship education in 2018 and 2019 consecutively.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.