Pusan National University, Chonnam National University and Chungnam National University have been selected for a package support program under President Lee Jae-myung's flagship higher education policy, known as the "Creating 10 Seoul National Universities" initiative. Each of the three schools, to be designated "national flagship regional universities," will receive 100 billion won ($72 million) annually over the next five years. The government plans to develop them into core hubs for cultivating regional talent and advancing balanced national development.
Education Minister Choi Kyo-jin announced the plan at a briefing on the 1st at the Government Complex Seoul, held in connection with the fourth pan-government council meeting on national territorial transformation. "For the three selected universities, we will bundle the '5 Poles, 3 Special Zones' growth engines with artificial intelligence into a single package, supporting undergraduate programs, graduate schools and research institutes together," Choi said. "Our goal is to develop these flagship national universities into hubs of regional growth and into platforms for cooperation among industry, academia, research institutes and local governments where top talent gathers."
In April this year, the Education Ministry unveiled a plan to cultivate regional talent in connection with growth engines, announcing it would intensively support three of the nation's flagship regional national universities. As the government narrowed the number of recipients to three after initially promoting the "Creating 10 Seoul National Universities" slogan, some critics said the policy had effectively shrunk to "creating three regional Seoul National Universities." The ministry says selection and concentration are necessary to spur competition among universities and raise the effectiveness of investment, rather than spreading limited resources thin.
The selection process weighed regional and industrial conditions under the national balanced development strategy alongside each university's readiness to carry out the project. A working committee involving eight government agencies, including the Education Ministry, made a comprehensive assessment of regional growth potential, industrial linkages and each school's innovation plans. Because alignment with the balanced regional development strategy figured prominently, some schools initially seen as strong contenders, including Chonbuk National University and Kyungpook National University, did not make the final list.
Pusan National University drew high marks for its plan to establish an "innovative manufacturing convergence college" spanning shipbuilding and marine engineering, mechanical systems, aerospace and other growth engine industries in the southeastern region. Its industry-academia cooperation plans, including new contract-based departments linked with large companies such as LG Electronics and Hanwha, were also cited as strengths. Plans to establish the nation's largest AI college and to build an AI transformation research campus at its Yangsan campus were also well received, according to officials. Its proposals to strengthen shipping policy and financial infrastructure in preparation for the opening of Arctic shipping routes also drew attention.
Chonnam National University was selected on the strength of a specialization strategy in advanced semiconductors, future energy and AI designed to support a "southwestern megaproject." Its plan to create an advanced convergence college concentrating on advanced semiconductors and future energy, along with measures to train AI talent, received high marks. The school scored particularly well on balanced national growth, including plans to pursue policies across a broader metropolitan area in connection with the launch of an integrated Jeonnam-Gwangju special city and to build an industrial base through large-scale investment.
Chungnam National University benefited from its geographic advantage as a hub in the central region, as well as the research base of the Daedeok Innopolis, where government-funded research institutes are clustered. The university proposed establishing a "NEXUS College of Science and Technology" and building a joint education and research system with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology to emerge as a national flagship university. Its industry-academia cooperation plans, including the establishment of a joint AI research institute with Naver Cloud, were also cited as reasons for its selection.
Six flagship regional national universities that were not selected — Kangwon National University, Kyungpook National University, Gyeongsang National University, Chonbuk National University, Jeju National University and Chungbuk National University — will each receive up to 40 billion won a year in separate funding. The aim is to prevent a decline in the competitiveness of the remaining flagship national universities as funding concentrates on a few schools, and to raise capabilities across the group as a whole.
The government will also set up performance management mechanisms to keep the large-scale funding from turning into a budget split among universities. It plans to form a separate performance management committee dedicated to the national flagship regional universities and to draw up key performance indicators with the participation of universities, local governments and the private sector.
"We will continue working with relevant ministries to create a successful model of regional growth through regional universities and produce results that the public can feel," Choi said. "We will spare no administrative and financial support so that they can carry out the mission of achieving balanced national growth."
