KAIST or the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, is located in Daedeok Science Town, Daejeon, South Korea. KAIST was established by Korean government in 1971 as the nation’s first research oriented science and engineering institution. KAIST is the nation’s the most prestigious science and technology institution and is considered to be the MIT of South Korea. The QS-The Times World University Rankings in the year of 2009 placed KAIST 69th in overall ranking and 21st in technology & IT subject field in the world.

Institutions
KAIST was founded with government funding and was initially staffed with a number of Korean engineering and science talents educated in the United States. From the onset, the emphasis has been in theoretical as well as applied research. KAIST continues to be Korea’s foremost center of strategic R&D projects. The University helped pioneer the establishment of competitive research oriented graduate school programs in Korea.

The University’s some 540 faculty conducts research in cooperation with academics and industries all over the world. KAIST offers grants and fellowships to international students.

The President of KAIST, Nam Pyo Suh, is an authority in axiomatic design technology. Soon-Heung Chang, a nuclear scientist, serves as Provost and Ji-won Yang, a chemical engineer, as Vice President for external affairs.

The University has for many decades, recruited faculty from overseas. The current KAIST President Nam Pyo Suh taught for many years at MIT. His predecessor, Robert Laughlin, a Nobel Prize laureate and a physics professor from Stanford University, was the first foreigner to head a Korean university. Professor Emeritus Cho Jang Hee, was a dual professor at both Columbia, New York, and KAIST, and played major role in the development of the PET scanning technology.

The vast majority of professors come from US higher education institutions. The school engages in many international programs with leading European and Asian universities. The university is a member of LAOTSE, an international network of universities in Europe and Asia. It is also a member of the Association of East Asian Research Universities.

KAIST
Established February 16, 1971
Type Government-run
President Nam-Pyo Suh
Faculty 526 (as of September, 2009)
Staff 322 (as of January, 2008)
Students 8,929 (as of September, 2009)
Undergraduates 3,839 (as of September, 2009)
Postgraduates 2,213 (as of September, 2009)
Doctoral students 2,877 (as of September, 2009)
Location Yuseong, Daejeon, South Korea
Campus Urban
1,432,882m² (Daedeok Campus)
413,346 m² (Seoul Campus)
Affiliations AEARU, LAOTSE, AOTULE
Website http://www.kaist.edu