In the Phase II comprehensive evaluation of the BK21 project announced by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation of Korea, four project groups (teams) received a 'Very Excellent' rating, and nine of Jeonbuk National University (JBNU)'s 11 project groups (teams) received favorable evaluations.

According to JBNU, in this evaluation the Medical School 21st Century Medical Science Workforce Training Project Group (Director: Professor Kim Dae-gon) was named the most outstanding project group nationwide and will receive a ministerial commendation on October 23.

Alongside this, three project groups—the Project Group for Training Advanced Electronic and Information Personnel for the Innovation of Jeollabuk-do Strategic Industries (Director: Professor Park Dong-seon), the Next-Generation Energy Materials and Devices Project Group (Director: Professor Seo Eun-kyung), and the Nano Information Materials Project Team (Director: Professor Lee Cheol-ro)—also received 'Very Excellent' ratings.

The 21st Century Advanced Oral Health Professional Training Project Group and the Polymer BIN Convergence Research Project Team were also rated 'Excellent' at the national level, and were evaluated as having carried out highly successful projects.

The Project Group for Establishing Prototypes of Traditional Living Culture and Applied Planning, the Project Team for Training Research Specialists in the Prevention of Animal-mediated Infectious Diseases, and the Emotional Marketing Project Team likewise received 'Excellent' ratings, demonstrating that many project groups received consistently favorable evaluations.

The 21st Century Medical Science Workforce Training Project Group, evaluated as the most outstanding project group nationwide, carried out its sixth-year project with the aim of elevating graduate students' research capabilities to an international level and enhancing their competitiveness. Since the project's inception in 2006, it has led efforts to train excellent medical science personnel by providing monthly research scholarships to graduate students, offering incentives to those who publish outstanding papers, and supporting various research activities.

On that basis, it has secured KRW 36.9 billion in government research funding and KRW 5.4 billion in industry research funding to date, and showed notable achievements, with participating graduate students publishing an average of 2.94 international papers per person in the sixth year alone.

The Project Group for Training Advanced Electronic and Information Personnel for the Innovation of Jeollabuk-do Strategic Industries, which received a 'Very Excellent' rating in the regional evaluation, secured KRW 16.3 billion in government research funding, and participating professors published a total of 270 SCI-indexed papers. The employment rate of participating graduate students averaged 90.5%.

The Next-Generation Energy Materials and Devices Project Group also secured KRW 23.4 billion in government research funding and KRW 3.5 billion in industry research funding, and published 697 SCI-indexed papers. In particular, it achieved a 100% employment rate for participating graduate students over the past six years, demonstrating very outstanding results.

Finally, the Nano Information Materials Project Team published a total of 150 SCI-indexed papers over six years, filed and registered 52 patents, and made 219 conference presentations. Notably, all participating graduate students achieved 100% employment in related research fields, demonstrating excellent performance.

Meanwhile, the BK21 project is an abbreviation of 'Brain Korea 21' and is a government program aimed at focusing on training core personnel in advanced science and technology fields.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology plans to conclude the Phase II BK21 project, which has been carried out since 2006, in February next year, and will integrate the BK21 project with the WCU project to launch a new follow-up program beginning next year. It intends to use the results of this comprehensive evaluation to support universities in raising their research competitiveness to the next level.