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"The president of a university is appointed by the government, and the operating expenses are appropriated from government budgets. Nonetheless, strict independence of universities from government has been the key to making Sweden the strongest scientific power in northern Europe."
This is the secret of Sweden's scientific strength revealed by Anders Flodstrom, President of Sweden's Royal Institute of Technology (http://www.kth.se, referred to as KTH hereafter).
The popular image of Sweden is the Volvo legend: the car falls of the cliff but the driver stays safely alive. But the reality goes far beyond Volvo and Saab. Sweden's technological power is recognized throughout the world not only in the areas of practical science, but also in scientific fields ranging from the advanced optical, bio and nano technologies to space engineering.
President Flodstrom identified the fundamental reason for Sweden's scientific preeminence to be "full government support combined with extensive discretionary power given to the school."
With a proud history of 175 years, the KTH is the wellspring of Swedish technical quality we associate with names like Ericsson. Like the École Polytechnique of France and RWTH Aachen of Germany, the KTH ranks among Europe's proudest universities of science and technology.
Flodstrom explained that, despite the geographical distance from UK, France and Germany, countries that dominated European science in the 19th century, the KTH was able to secure a position as a top-level technical university through its "founding spirit of commitment to public accessibility and economic practicality."
Pointing out that "a university with international celebrity and a university renowned within a country are two different things," he aptly commented on the realities of Korean universities. He said that "without ceaseless research and development, one cannot be any better than a frog confined in a well."
He continued on saying that "development of the top-level technological and engineering university begins with engaging a teaching faculty with global attitudes." He commended the globalization efforts made by Korean universities, notably by KAIST.
He then reiterated that advancement of science and technology requires, as its essential element, support by universities and thus, in turn, active support from the government.
"For advancement of universities, particularly of technological and engineering universities, active support by the government must be secured in advance." He decribed how "the KTH is receiving support from the government for 80% or more of the school's operating expenses, typically 30% from government support funds and 50% from government-related public organizations."
Wouldn't increased government support cause interference, and thus impede the school's autonomy? "All of our project and research decisions are made by an International Governance Committee formed out of our own teaching faculty," he said, repeating the message that the key to developing excellent science and technology was ensuring autonomy in universities by strictly separating support and research decisions.
I questioned him whether Sweden also suffers from the problem of young people avoiding science and technology careers. "Of course. But this problem will naturally be solved when science and technology are engaged not only with related areas of medicine or environmental science but also with the fields of humanities, such as economics." Thus he feels that linking science with humanities should be one of our main objectives.
This was the sustantially the same response by presidents of other leading universities around the world. When asked how to solve the problem of students' avoiding science and engineering study, they uniformly replied that "connecting and coordinatiing with other fields of study" was the key.
"I know President Roh Moo-hyun well," he said, implicitly endorsing the science and technology policy of the current Korean government. He then advised that "active government support and disciplinary cooperation will be required for distinguished technological universities in Korea, such as KAIST and POSTECH, to become internationally renowned schools of science and technology."
Warning that basic science should not be overlooked, even though Korea is excelling in IT fields, he noted that "the root of science is physics and chemistry." He expressed confidence that political support of basic science would eventually result in the generation of applied technologies.
To the question of what he would do if given responsibility for all science and technology in Korea, he said "I would like to make Korea the scientific center of Northeast Asia." He went on, "I would also attempt to establish frequent exchanges with leading universities in America and Europe." He also added that "the development of science and technology is a harvest you get after planting seeds of convergence and oneness."
Saying that it was a shame that Sweden and Korea did not have any joint projects, President Flodstrom stated his hope for combining the basic science of Sweden and the practical science of Korea. "Collaboration with Korean universities would be of great benefit for us."
"Scientists know science best." In the smiling face of President Anders Flodstrom, the former engineering student, I found the "effective confluence of research and administration".