'To achieve balanced national development and strengthen the competitiveness of higher education, world-class research-intensive universities must be cultivated in the regions.'

Kim Dong-won, President of Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) and chair of the Council of Presidents of National Regional Universities, attracted attention on the 15th by attending a National Assembly Education and Culture Forum seminar led by National Assembly members Ahn Min-seok and Choi Kang-wook and proposing policies to support national universities.

The 'National Assembly Education and Culture Forum' is a study group of 21st National Assembly members that identifies and advances practical, people-centered policy and legislative agendas in the fields of education and culture.

The seminar, held from 8:00 a.m. on the 15th in Meeting Room 1 of the National Assembly Members' Office Building, featured a keynote presentation by Kim Jong-young, professor at Kyung Hee University and author of Making Ten Seoul National University-level Institutions, under the theme 'Transforming the Foundations of Korean Education.'

Based on his book, Professor Kim proposed a university innovation plan to elevate nine regional flagship national universities to the level of Seoul National University, drawing strong interest from attending members of the National Assembly and officials from education-related organizations.

Following this, Kim Dong-won, President of JBNU, stated that 'the solution to strengthening national competitiveness is to move away from a capital-region-centered university hierarchy and to cultivate regionally specialized research-intensive universities.' He then presented the four major policies the Council of Presidents of National Regional Universities proposed as presidential election pledges to foster world-class research-intensive universities.

At the seminar, President Kim proposed four major policies: enactment of the National University Act; improvement of the mandatory local talent recruitment system; introduction of free tuition for national and public universities; and strengthening regional R&D funding and revising related laws to foster regional flagship research-intensive universities.

After the keynote presentations and policy proposals by Professor Kim Jong-young and President Kim Dong-won, members of the National Assembly, education authorities, and education sector stakeholders exchanged a range of opinions through discussion on the proposed measures.

President Kim said, 'In an era of regional decline, fostering regional flagship national universities is a critically important task. To that end, the regional flagship national universities will take the lead in innovating. I ask for active support from the National Assembly and the government.'

He added, 'If these efforts are linked to the financial support programs currently implemented by government ministries, we expect it will be possible to find ways to nurture regional research-intensive universities with a relatively small budget.'