AS PART of the Third Founding project, Yonsei University has not only finished reconstructing Baekyang-ro but also established a smart campus network. One of the most notable changes brought on by this network include new digital services such as Y-TOP, Y-Safe and the upgraded YSCEC. These services are designed to help Yonseians have more convenient and efficient school lives.

Yonsei in your hand: Y-TOP

   Yonsei TOP or Y-TOP is the acronym of Yonsei Total Open Platform. It is the first official phone application of Yonsei University, which was initiated from the start of this semester. Via Y-TOP, Yonseians can access many services that are essential to campus life.

Box 1: YSCEC and Y-diary

Yonsei Creative Education Community (YSCEC), the online website that supports submission of reports and uploading of lecture materials, can be directly opened from Yonsei TOP. Also notice that, Y-diary is placed in the top right hand corner of Y-TOP. Through Y-diary, Yonseians can check the academic calendar, which shows notices about important upcoming academic affairs.

Box 2: Y-membership and e-telephone book

Yonseians can have access to detailed information about the stores in Sinchon that have made contract with the Students’ Union, under the heading “Y-membership.” Beneath the category of food, life, dessert and drink, Yonseians can easily find restaurants and cafés that provide exclusive discounts to Yonsei students.

Besides Y-membership, an e-telephone book that contains the number of all school facilities is also available on Y-TOP. Simply by typing in keywords, Yonseians can get telephone numbers of all school-affiliated organizations right away. Both the phone numbers of individual professors and school offices are provided.

Box 3: Y-Bus, electronic attendance and library seat reservation

Via Y-BUS, Yonseians can know the real-time location of the Sinchon Campus shuttle bus. Also, reservation for shuttle bus moving between Sinchon and YIC can be done by Y-BUS as well.

Under the electronic attendance registration, students can use their smart phones to check attendance instead of tagging their student ID cards. Thus, those who do not want to carry their ID cards can choose to use the mobile ID card, which can be directly accessed in Y-TOP. However, students should note that the actual ID card is deactivated once the mobile ID card is issued.

Moreover, the reservation and extension of library seats are possible by mY-seat application under Y-TOP. This application is especially helpful because it sends notifications to remind students to extend their seats.

 On the other hand, as this is just the first semester of the launching of Y-TOP, there are some drawbacks. One discomfort is that to utilize all the sections under Y-TOP, one has to download each and every application on their phones, which takes up memory space.

Better safe than sorry: Y-safe

Yonsei University and KT Telecop together initiated the Y-Safe system this year to better guarantee the safety of students inside campus. Y-Safe is an integrated campus security system that consists of fire alert and personal danger system.

In the fire alert system, an intelligent fire alert receptor and gate system are combined together, so that both the emergency room and the Yonsei Local Control Center are able to check on the emergency situation right away. Moreover, the gate of the building where the fire occurred is automatically opened and allows students to expediently move out of the building.

Another notable service is the personal care system, Y-Carecall, which can also be accessed via Y-TOP. The process of operating Y-Carecall is as follows.

Box 4: Steps for your-safety, Y-Carecall:

1.     Download Y-Carecall application on your smartphone

2.     Sign up for Y-Carecall (Insert student ID and password or Yonsei Portal)

3.     Log in after sign up

4.     Press start button to activate Y-Carecall

5.     Shake your phone to summon 24 hour standby guard

Remember that the guard can come only if the student is inside the Yonsei University campus. Students are especially encouraged to use this service when travelling alone at night at Yonsei University campus. For instance, after studying until midnight at the library, students can use this service to get back to the dormitory. According to Park Jung-hee (Senior Team Leader, Yonsei Local Control Center), many of the nurses in Severance University use this service after their late night shifts have ended. He also encouraged the students to use this service without hesitation. As the Yonsei Local Control Center is located in Office of Library & Information Technology Services, the guard can immediately come. Better safe than sorry!

YSCEC Version 2 - definitely better than before

YSCEC Version 2 has introduced two new functions that certainly make it better than the previous version. The first one is the Yonsei bookstore. Yonsei bookstore is the renovated second hand bookstore that used to be on the Yonsei University homepage. Yonsei bookstore enables students to buy and sell their used books. In the beginning of every semester, students have to pay a lot of money for their textbooks. For those who want to save money, they can sell their books at the end of the semester or buy the books from Yonsei bookstore. As it is on YSCEC, it ensures that the buyer and sellers are all Yonseians, which increases the credibility of buyer and seller. According to an anonymous student majoring in Department of Economics, he was very satisfied with the Yonsei bookstore because he was able to get the books he had wanted easily at a cheap cost. Moreover, with constant management of Yongreen, the founder of Yonsei bookstore, no illegal or inappropriate contents can be exchanged. For instance, photo-copied text books are not allowed to be exchanged due to copy-right issues. As of now, about 880 posts have been uploaded since September, which is relatively higher than the previous second hand book store that was on the Yonsei University homepage.

The second newly introduced function is the Open Campus Experience (OPX), which is added on the right hand side of YSCEC Version 2. By clicking on OPX, Yonseians can see videos of special lectures by invited guests that were previously held in Yonsei University. Moreover, students can access information on cultural activities such as exhibition or performances that are ongoing at school in the moment.

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Yonsei University has initiated a lot of changes as part of its Third Founding project. An establishment of a smarter campus network was one of the project’s purported goals. Although some of the changes brought along by the Third Founding project are controversial, the services introduced above have generally met positive responses from the students. Yonseians should definitely utilize these services as much as possible for a smarter campus life.