SEOUL -- KAIST, as the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology is known, is a household name in South Korea. Now it is gaining prominence on the global research scene, as it strives to nurture the economic leaders of the future.
Founded by the government decades ago, the institution calls the central city of Daejeon home and operates outside the regular education system. Among its notable recent achievements: A KAIST team won the top prize at last year's DARPA Robotics Challenge, a competition organized by the U.S. Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
The team was one of 24 groups from prestigious colleges and labs in five countries and a territory. The competition included Carnegie Mellon University of the U.S. and the University of Tokyo. The goal was to demonstrate how humanoid robots can assist with disaster relief efforts.
The KAIST team won $2 million.
The school's endeavors are drawing interest from some of the world's biggest technology players. "We have provided two humanoid robots of this type to Google," said a postgraduate student at KAIST.
The lab the student belongs to was packed with tools, along with debris for testing the robots' rubble removal capabilities. A cat was sleeping nearby.
Freedom to educate
KAIST was established in 1971 by the government of President Park Chung-hee, the father of current President Park Geun-hye. The country was undergoing a growth spurt that became known as the Miracle on the Han River.
For centuries, those who studied the humanities were the ones who reached the top in South Korea. But the Park Chung-hee government saw chemicals and machinery as essential industries that could drive the country's economy. The government asked a renowned Stanford University professor to draw up plans for a science and technology college that could support the country's industrialization and prevent brain drain.
The government crafted special legislation to govern KAIST, freeing it from the constraints of the conventional education system. Unlike other schools, which operate under the Education Ministry, KAIST falls under the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning.
"Our advantage is to be able to design unique education programs freely," college President Kang Sung-mo said.
For example, the school launched an initiative called Education 3.0 about five years ago. Under the program, students are expected to view video lectures before classes. This way, they can spend class time asking professors questions and debating among themselves.
The school's residence hall has a special area to accommodate students who are interested in starting businesses. An adviser who graduated from Stanford and launched a business is on hand.
At one point, the college was accepting large numbers of competitive high school students in their second year before graduation, though it has scaled down such recruiting.
Tuition is free for all students. Male enrollees are typically exempted from the compulsory two years of military service. The government allocates exemptions to colleges each year, and KAIST is usually given the most, according to Korea's Military Manpower Administration.
Last year, some 300 first-year doctoral students at KAIST sought to be exempted; all of their requests were approved.
The college has produced a number of high-profile businesspeople. The list of graduates includes Kwon Oh-hyun, who serves as vice chairman and CEO of Samsung Electronics and is the highest-ranking executive outside the founding family. Another example is Hae-jin Lee, founder and chairman of internet search company Naver, the parent of messaging app operator Line.
In addition, some 1,400 businesses have been launched by the college's students, alumni and lecturers. As of 2014, nearly 60 of these companies were listed on stock exchanges.
Quacquarelli Symonds, a British university evaluation agency, ranked KAIST sixth among Asian colleges this year. That is higher than Seoul National University, in 10th place, and the University of Tokyo, in 13th.
Still, KAIST has a ways to go. Despite efforts to provide most classes in English, it has struggled to attract foreign students, who account for just 5% of the total. Its next mission is likely to be globalization.