Statistics is all around us even though you might have not noticed it. From your report card, weather forecast, sports games to economic growth and marketing strategy, our society cannot be separated from statistics. Emeritus professor of statistics of Korea University (KU) Lee Jae-Chang has been widely participating in the international stage in order to emphasize the importance of statistics and to improve the level of statistics. On May 20, Professor Lee was elected as the next president of the International Statistical Institute (ISI). As the president-elect of ISI, he revealed his passion toward the development of statistics and stressed the value of statistics.
Professor Lee is the first Korean to become the president of ISI and the first Asian president in 26 years. ISI, comprised of 2300 elected members and 3000 general members from 133 countries, is the most influential association of statistics experts, which aims to promote the understanding, development, and good practice of statistics worldwide. He will come into operation of the presidential committee as the president-elect for the next two years, and will be inaugurated as a two-year term president in 2011.
20 years of continuous participation in international stages have enabled him to become the next president of ISI.He attended numerous meetings worldwide since the 1980s and served as the vice president of ISI twice and the president of the International Association of Statistical Computing (IASC) of ISI. “I decided to work internationally in order to let other countries know the level of statistics in Korea,” he said. “Regarding the fact that the Department of Statistics was first founded in Korea only in 1963, Korea has made rapid progress in statistics. I can definitely say that the level of students and professors in the Department of Statistics is one of the best in the world,” he continued. He tried to change foreigners’ bad perception toward statistics of Korea through carrying out many international activities including holding the 53rd session of ISI in Seoul in 2001.
Professor Lee did not participate in international stages only to inform the level of statistics in Korea. Even before he became a professor, he was also interested in international affairs and globalization. “I have always been thinking about globalization and international affairs since I was a university student,” he said. Back in his university years in Seoul National University (SNU), he was one of the founding members of the Association Internationale des Étudiants en Sciences Économiques et Commerciales (AIESEC), an international, non-profit, non-political organization run by students and recent graduates of institutions of higher education. As a representative of AIESEC, he was invited to the White House and was so much impressed by John F. Kennedy that he made up his mind to engage in international activities.
After Professor Lee earned a doctor’s degree in statistics at Ohio State University, he returned to Korea in 1978 and become a professor of statistics of KU in 1979. In 1990s, as a dean of planning, he executed opening up English lectures with the former President of KU, Euh Yoon-Dae, who wasa dean of academic affairs at that time. “It is widely known that KU started using the catch phrase ‘Global Korea’ from 2005. However, ‘Global Korea’ was the term that I advocated back in 1990s,” he said. He thought Korea need to pay much more attention to globalization in order to develop rapidly.
However, his stress on the globalization is no match for his emphasis on the value of statistics as the one and only method of evaluating our society objectively. “Our society is like our body. We need to examine current conditions through medical check-ups and cope with the situation properly,” he said. As people receive medical check-ups, society has to be evaluated scientifically. Statistics is needed in both the decision making process and the evaluation process. Through objective figures, government plans new projects and evaluates the results with statistics afterwards. “Without statistics, it’s impossible to evaluate the consequences objectively,” he emphasized.
Therefore, he claimed that proper usage of statistics brings about the economic development and improves the quality of life. “Through statistics, public opinion can be reflected in policy which seeks a better life for its citizen. That’s the reason why people should be concerned about participating in and using statistics,” he said. He was worried about the innumerate who don’t know how to use statistics and people like those who are not willing to engage in a survey. “People should know how to utilize statistics such as GDP and unemployment rate and need to cooperate in answering survey questions in order to improve their quality of life.” He described statistics as tap water. In order to produce clean water, the source of the water supply has to be clean. Unpolluted production conditions, such as professionalism of the statistician, and ordinary people’s participation in a survey, offer pure water. “If you answer the questions sincerely, it means that you’re providing clean water supply which later becomes your drinking water,” he said. “People should be aware of the fact that their interest in statistics promotes the social welfare,” he continued.
Other than emphasizing the importance of statistics in our society, Professor Lee hopes to establish a statistic hub in Korea as the next president of ISI. Like Eurostat, which is the Statistical Office of the European Communities, he tries to set up Asiastat in Asia. “Korea has to take the initiative in the Asian statistics market,” he said. He will continue to hold the Asia Statistics Forum to make preparations in advance in order to take the lead in building the infrastructure when Asian statistics integrate. In addition, he wishes to hold the ISI sessions in North Korea. “The statistics condition in North Korea is very poor, which is one of the reasons why North Korea cannot develop,” he said. “I’d like to visit North Korea as president of ISI and guide North Koreans in their statistics capability.”
To all the students, he advised them to put their efforts on language, statistics, and psychology. “In today’s age of globalization, language is most important and statistics and psychology are also important because they are the basis of other fields of study,” he said. He insisted that all university students study statistics. “Statistics is useful in all fields of study,” he said. Statistics is in need in every field of science, from natural science to social science. Therefore, if students don’t know how to use statistics, it might be hard for them to study other subjects. Also, since statistics are applied to almost every field of study, it would be more helpful for students to study statistics even though it is not their major. “If you study statistics, you can move into various fields, from financial business to the field of law,” he continued. “The future of statistics is very bright and you won’t regret studying statistics,” he asserted. |
madeleine@korea.ac.kr
