Students at Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) won the Excellence Award at the '2012 Monetary Policy Competition — Honam Regional Round,' hosted by the Bank of Korea.

The award winners were the 'Theory and Practice' team, composed of 김현옥 (Department of Statistics, 3rd-year), 이현수 (Department of Business Administration, 3rd-year), 국병욱 (Department of Business Administration, 3rd-year), and 임호빈 (Department of Business Administration, 3rd-year).

They placed second in the competition, which featured a total of 11 teams from Gwangju and North and South Jeolla provinces, and were awarded KRW 1,500,000.

In addition, the career club 'Golden Compass', which operates with university support, won the Encouragement Award, corresponding to third place in the competition. As a result, JBNU produced two of the five prize-winning teams in this year's competition.

The competition, conducted in a format that required participants to assess the domestic economic situation and propose monetary policy, drew high praise from the judges for the 'Theory and Practice' team. The team made innovative proposals, such as modifying the Taylor rule — an econometric model for setting the policy interest rate — by adding a variable reflecting financial stability, a factor emphasized by the Bank of Korea.

Kim Hyun-ok, a member of the team, said, 'Because none of the team members majored in economics, we always felt we were lacking and spent about a month working closely together to prepare for the competition, which led to this good result. I will continue to take greater interest in economics-related fields and strive to improve my skills.'

The competition, held this year for the 10th time, has been organized annually since 2003 to provide a simulated experience of the monetary policy decision-making process and to enhance university students' understanding of the nation's economic situation and monetary policy.