What do you think about an organization that could improve our school’s reputation, lower tuition, and heighten student’s percentage of successful employment after graduation? Do you think these kinds of ‘dream’ organizations exist? The answer is yes, and they are called ‘School Enterprises’.

 SchoolEnterprise refers to an internal company that has been set up in the University’s Colleges. The South Korean Ministry of Education established the ‘Law of School Enterprise Establishment’ in 2005. Under this law, schools can freely pursue various academic and practical monetary interests and set up a school firm. This is ideal for an educational organization. First, if the School Enterprise starts to earn money, there will be a chance to lower tuition and improve facilities. Second, our school reputation will be greater if the business is successful. Third, students can gain practical real-world practice in their course of study. In the business world, graduated students will have more job choices. The Education Ministry said, “School Enterprises will be a great help to university finances and will contribute to making men of ability, which will create more jobs across Korea. However, those universities which already lack business and/or theoretical ability will have a higher chance of failure in a School Enterprise Business; therefore universities need to enliven their universities’ specialty fields in terms of their business strengths.” 

 However, CAU’s Institute of Industrial Studies cautions that School Enterprise Businesses are not as perfect as they seem. “It looks like an ideal enterprise and it is, in terms of the long run. However, we need to bear in mind that it is a company and if you fail, you lose money.” He adds, “The students and professors will have to make great investments of time and effort for the company, and with our current state of mind and ambition, it is impossible to succeed.” With a question of whether or not we have a School Enterprise, he said, “No. There is no current School Enterprise set up in our school, and there is no specific plan for it, yet. Considering our current status, we have no profits to spare to make a business.” He also said, “To make a proper industry, you need to create a new department and arrange new accountings. You need to have a director, managers, and company employees, too. You will also need to make offices for the company, so we need to consider the costs of the land, because our school is currently having problems with the lack of classrooms or seminar rooms. We also need to have start up money, which must be over at least 50,000,000 won. It is very complicated and to be successful, we need to be careful.” Chung-Ang University is not able to finance and run a business right away, but it is willing to give its support in the running of a business if there is a suitable situation.

 However, many universities are already starting school businesses. What kind of business do they run?         

Kyung Hee University in Suwon recently started a business in Health Foods. The Department of Oriental Medicinal Materials and Processing set up a company last June. They started making ‘Kyung Hee Orgapi Ginseng Steamed Red’, which has several healthy and medicinal benefits. The School’s company representative, Kim, Mu-sung said, “Since the products have been sold, our school’s publicity has been highly accepted. We are seeing a profit and students are also getting a chance to practice their studies.”

 Kyunsan University also started a school company last May called ‘GAST’. It is a business run by the ‘Kyunsan University Korean Beef Cattle’ organization. ‘GAST’ consists of seven formal employees and sixteen school personnel. GAST is planning to put all profits back into providing students with field study opportunities, and educational research work.

 Daegu Haany University started a business using traditional Oriental Medicine that functions as cosmetics, called ‘Soo Wal’s Poem’. The school has determined that the cosmetics give a shiny skin tone, and has anticancer and antifungal properties. The University is planning to patent the application. The last product they sold was ‘Fragrance of Plum Blossoms’, which was another Oriental Medicine cosmetic. It has now made a profit of 20,000,000,000 won.

          

 Conbuk National University started its ‘Conbuk National University Ham’ under the Department of Animal and Natural Science. Conbuk National University Ham is making a monthly profit around 1,000,000,000 won. It has now entered Hanaro Mart, Carrefour, and so on.

 

 

 

          

 

However,he best model for a profitable business is Yonsei University. Yonsei has started businesses since the 1960s and now runs ten businesses. The yearly profit is around 1,200,000,000,000 won. Yonsei is also the first Korean private school foundation ever to donate 500,000,000,000 won. The most famous business we know in Yonsei’s Foundation business is ‘Yonsei Dairy’.

          

 Seoul National University is planning to make ‘Seoul Soybean Paste’, ‘Seoul University Ham’ and ‘Seoul University Milk’ starting from the year 2010.

 So, what kind of businesses can we look for in Chung-Ang University? To enliven our school specialties, we should probably look to the Department of Theatre, College of Korean Music, and College of Pharmacy would be most suitable. As we all know, our school is famous in Theatre. Therefore, we can think of companies in movie industries such as CJ Entertainment. Students can actually participate in making movies, and will be a great help to students’ careers. Other proposals include Entertainment Agencies. When Chung-Ang University is asked to perform, the request usually comes through a company, which connects our school and contractor. If we could build a company that connects to the contractor, we could save money from the performance commission and earn more money by running a company. Last of all, we can think of a Pharmaceutical Company. Our College of Pharmacy has a high reputation in the Pharmacy world; we could use that reputation of trust in a Pharmaceutical Company. These are just possibilities and if any good items come up in any kind of department, it can be used as a business item.

 Since a university’s name becomes a company brand, there are many cases, where companies have been sued by universities to protect the school’s name and value. The university’s name has a trust among consumers, so it is comparatively easy for the University’s name to be used by companies as they enter the market. For example, Ewha Woman’s University sued an English Language Institute because they used the name ‘Ewha”. Ewha Woman’s University won the case. In addition, Yonsei University won various cases and eliminated the name ‘Yonsei’ in many drug stores, hospitals, and institutes. The Institute of Industrial Studies in Chung-Ang University said we need to protect the University’s name value, but no actual action has been taken yet. For example, the school’s logo products that are sold in the school are not made by Chung-Ang University, and the school restaurants, which use the name Chung-Ang, are also not permitted to use the logo. However, no action has been taken yet.

           Chung-Ang University should start thinking about these business items more seriously. Even though the school claims they are willing to start a School Enterprise in the future, who knows when that future will be?