University of Science and Technology (UST)

The University of Science and Technology (UST), established in 2003, is a group of public universities and research institutions run as a consortium in South Korea. It runs across 32 campuses, with the main campus in Daejon, and others in Seoul, Suwon, Changwon, Ansan and Seongnam.

The University of Science and Technology runs only a graduate school, taught in English, specialising in science and engineering education and research.

There are nearly 500 international students, making up about one third of the total student population of over 1,300. Over 500 of the students are doing doctoral courses. There are over 900 full-time faculty and nearly 1,400 total faculty.

The university is unusual in that it awards credits for research and minimises classroom lectures. Students are also provided with opportunities to participate in projects conducted by other institutions or private companies. Liberal arts classes are a prerequisite.

Special courses include technical business administration, technical economics, technical strategies, theories of research, planning and management, venture start-ups, technical communication and technical writing.

Majors include nuclear fusion, polar science, functional genomics, laser and plasma engineering, intelligent robot engineering and quantum energy chemical engineering.

It has many overseas partner institutions in countries such as Azerbaijan, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, France, Georgia, Germany, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, South Africa and Uzbekistan.

The university provides a Student Sexual Harassment Help Desk, which supports sexual harassment victims, investigates cases and runs programmes to prevent sexual harassment.

The school flower is a plum blossom, which overcomes adversity to blossom through the cold winter snow. It is considered to symbolise a virtuous and lucid mind.