The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and universities from the Honam and Jeju regions met to discuss how to open a new era for regional universities.

  JBNU invited Minister Lee Ju-ho of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and on May 25 at 10:00 a.m. held a forum titled “Forum on Development Measures for Regional Universities in the Honam and Jeju Regions” at Jinsudang Gain Hall.

  The forum brought together the ministry and regional universities from the Honam and Jeju areas to explore development measures. Presentations and discussions took place with some 300 participants, including Minister Lee Ju-ho, university presidents from the Honam and Jeju regions, JBNU faculty and staff.

  At the forum, Minister Lee Ju-ho presented the ministry’s recently announced “Regional University Development Plan,” proposing more than a twofold expansion of the LINC program, strengthened scholarship support for regional universities, improvements to the transfer admission system, and bolstered research support.

  In response, panelists including Park Se-hun, Director of the Center for Basic Liberal Arts Education; Lee Chun-gu, News Director of KBS Jeonju Broadcasting Bureau; Kim Hyung-jun, Director of the Planning Office, Jeju National University; Lee Gyu-hun, Director of Industry-University Cooperation, Gwangju University; and Lee Jong-han, President of the Student Council, Mokpo National Maritime University, engaged in discussion and a Q&A session regarding the ministry’s proposals.

  Park Se-hun, who opened the discussion, said, “The Regional University Development Plan announced by the ministry could be a historic opportunity for regional development. Because the success of these measures depends on securing funding, the ministry must exert its capacity to coordinate with other government ministries.”

  He continued, “As the transfer admission system has taken on a fiercely competitive character in recruiting outstanding students, rather than merely reducing its scale, the complete abolition of the system should be actively considered. To promote local hiring, incentives such as a quota system for graduates of regional universities should be introduced so that both public and private enterprises implement such employment measures.”

  He also stressed the need for ▲expanded government tuition support for regional universities, ▲encouraging mergers and closures between universities and uniform enrollment reductions in response to the declining school-age population, ▲abolition of the matching fund system for excellent research, and ▲expansion of government-funded higher education budgets to the OECD average level.

  Lee Chun-gu of KBS’s News Bureau, who spoke next, likewise called for bold measures such as university consolidations backed by exceptional support as a fundamental response to reducing transfer admissions and addressing regional university enrollment rates.

  The director particularly emphasized, “To attract top talent to regional universities, institutional mechanisms should be established that require companies to hire a certain percentage of graduates from regional universities. Support for regional flagship national universities should be dramatically increased so that outstanding local students can study at regional universities without financial burden.”

  Additionally, Lee Gyu-hun of Gwangju University’s Industry-University Cooperation emphasized expanding public institution hiring of regional talent and strengthening start-up support. Kim Hyung-jun of Jeju National University’s Planning Office stressed reducing admission quotas at metropolitan universities in response to the declining school-age population, supporting the relocation of prominent metropolitan companies to the provinces, providing support for appointing excellent regional faculty, and the systematic development of outstanding local universities.