"Constantly Challenge Newness!"… UNIST Holds This Year's Graduation Ceremony

Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology. [Image source=Naver Map]

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Hwang Dooyul] “The past four years studying abroad at UNIST were tearfully difficult, but it was a beautiful challenge without regrets.”

Indonesian international student Clarissa Elizabeth Maria delivered the valedictory speech at the UNIST graduation ceremony on the 17th.

She was the top graduate and had the honor of graduating one semester early.

Elizabeth personally wrote the speech script in Korean, which she had self-studied in her spare time, and delivered the speech clearly in Korean on the stage.

She said, “I was very interested in biotechnology and boldly challenged myself to study abroad at UNIST. Although I sometimes felt lonely in a foreign land, I overcame it with the help of kind Korean students.”

At the 2022 academic year graduation ceremony held in the main auditorium on the 2nd floor of the UNIST university headquarters, a total of 972 degrees were awarded, including 561 bachelor's degrees, 132 master's degrees, 198 doctoral degrees, and 81 graduates from professional and special graduate schools.

Since its establishment in 2009, UNIST has produced a total of 7,466 science and technology talents, including 5,124 bachelor's, 1,517 master's, and 825 doctoral graduates.

The graduation ceremony was conducted with only a small number of people attending in person and was broadcast live online.

The on-site participants consisted of representative students from each department and program receiving degrees, as well as students participating in awards.

The event proceeded in the order of congratulatory performances, academic procession entrance, academic report, outstanding student awards, congratulatory speeches by guests, degree conferral, valedictory speech, and singing of the school anthem.

In the undergraduate outstanding graduate awards, student Lee Byungheon received the Minister of Science and ICT Award, student Park Eui-jin received the UNIST President’s Award, and student Kim Taeyoon received the Chairman’s Award.

Students Shim Heesoo and Choi Jongmin received the Ulsan Metropolitan City Mayor’s Award and Ulju County Governor’s Award, respectively. In the graduate program, graduate student Min Hanul from the Department of Energy and Chemical Engineering received the ‘Yebong Outstanding Thesis Award.’

The Yebong Award is funded by a donation from Jo Mooje, the founding president of UNIST, and is given to doctoral graduates who have written excellent theses.

Min Hanul published numerous papers in world-class academic journals during the degree program, including one in Nature and two in Science, related to perovskite solar cell research.

Graduate students Kim Yejin from the Department of Chemistry, Han Byungju from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, and Choi Sanghak from the Department of Management Science were selected as recipients of the Outstanding Thesis Award.

President Lee Yonghoon said, “You who always dream of being the best and boldly challenged first ahead of anyone else are the main characters who made today’s UNIST possible,” adding, “UNIST will continue to grow by leading the world with the most advanced education and research in cutting-edge fields that will lead the future.”

Degree conferral was conducted by one representative from each department in the order of bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees. The names of graduates attending online were later broadcast with subtitles on the screen along with the singing of the school anthem.

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