A university campus in western Seoul is nearly empty on Sept. 11, 2020, as students took online classes. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Feb. 25 (Korea Bizwire) — The pomp and circumstance of retirement ceremonies for university professors has changed significantly following the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Many schools have either skipped ceremonies or held them online. It has become an even rarer sight for retiring professors to gather students to publish thesis compilations before they retire.
Prof. Kim Eon-jong, who retired from the Korea University Department of Classical Chinese in 2018, created his own YouTube channel to teach classical Chinese.
All he needed was a smartphone stand and a fedora, which cost 100,000 won in total, to start shooting his own YouTube videos. The videos were met with positive reactions, some reaching more than 150,000 views.
Jeon Kwang-jin, Professor Emeritus at Sungkyunkwan University’s Department of Chinese Language and Literature, completed his first translation of a Chinese classic just in time for his retirement last summer.
Prof. Lee Young-shik from Chung-Ang University Hospital’s Department of Neuropsychiatry began posting videos of his harmonica performances on YouTube as he prepares for his upcoming retirement.
Prof. Kim Eun-ki from Inha University’s Department of Biological Engineering held an online seminar for some 130 students and graduates last December to share his experience in planning and time management.
The changing landscape of retirement in academia is thought to be led primarily by the fact that retiring professors are still too young to ‘close up shop’.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
