“Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) has driven a wedge into the long-standing assumption that 'regional universities can't succeed,' demonstrating that this is not the case.”

 On June 5, 2013, when the results of the 2013 Asia University Rankings, conducted jointly by The Chosun Ilbo and the UK-based global university ranking agency QS, were released, The Chosun Ilbo, in a main article on the Society page (page 11), spotlighted JBNU, which placed in the Top 100 in Asia (97th), as described above.

 The daily wrote that “a university located in a sparsely populated, industrially weak region has overcome multiple weaknesses and leapt up the rankings,” and published, through an interview with President Seo Geo-seok, the key factors behind JBNU’s achievement in overcoming the limitations of a regional university and surpassing mid-to-upper-tier universities in the Seoul metropolitan area.

 What drew attention to JBNU was the university-wide determination and effort to enact 'change' that overcame its weak regional base and constraints. The Chosun Ilbo focused on how JBNU has pursued sweeping changes to strengthen research competitiveness, increasing material support such as research funding and facility improvements, strengthening faculty promotion requirements threefold, and offering extraordinary incentives to professors who publish high-quality papers.

 In particular, it noted that what differentiates JBNU from other regional universities is its out-of-province student enrollment rate, quoting President Seo as saying that JBNU’s proportion of students from outside the province, exceeding 40%, is highly significant.

 President Seo Geo-seo, through this report, stated, "I take pride that, through seven years of effort, our university's research competitiveness has already been able to stand shoulder to shoulder with major universities in Seoul," and added, "This rise in ranking reflects the results of sustained efforts to strengthen research and educational conditions."

 * The Chosun Ilbo article link : http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2013/06/05/2013060500291.html