In 1992 I was selected for a research commission issued by the Korean Culture and Arts Foundation to develop a model for the establishment and operation of the School of Visual Arts at the future Korea National University of Arts. The project aimed to formulate a foundational framework for a national art institution, addressing both its educational philosophy and its academic structure.

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The study compared the operational models of major art schools in the United States, Europe, and Japan, as well as leading Korean art universities. Based on this analysis, it proposed an integrated institutional model including educational principles and objectives, curriculum structure, departmental organization, admissions and evaluation systems, faculty composition, and facilities required for a contemporary art academy.

Among approximately thirty projects commissioned in the same program, this research was selected as the most outstanding study.

However, when the School of Visual Arts was eventually established, the administrative process followed a different path: the dean and faculty were appointed without an open selection process, and several structural proposals developed in the research were not adopted.

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The case revealed the gap that can arise between research-based institutional planning and the realities of cultural administration.