Average education spending per student at nine regional flagship national universities in South Korea declined over the past year, even as the government moves to eliminate tuition entirely at provincial national universities. Only 17 Korean universities placed within the top 500 of the QS World University Rankings, and among regional flagship national universities, just Pusan National University (449th) and Kyungpook National University (481st) barely made the list. Experts say strengthening the competitiveness of national universities requires support measures such as expanded research funding rather than crowd-pleasing policies like free tuition.
According to an analysis of disclosure data from the Higher Education in Korea portal conducted by The Seoul Economic Daily on the 1st, education spending per student at the nine flagship national universities — Kangwon National University, Kyungpook National University, Gyeongsang National University, Pusan National University, Chonnam National University, Jeonbuk National University, Jeju National University, Chungnam National University and Chungbuk National University, excluding Seoul National University — stood at 25.298 million won last year, down about 9,000 won from 25.307 million won a year earlier. The figure was derived by adding the average per-student education spending at each university and dividing by the number of universities. Per-student education spending at each university is calculated by dividing school accounting, industry-academic cooperation foundation accounting, book purchase costs and equipment purchase costs by the total number of students, and the share of industry-academic cooperation foundation accounting has been rising, particularly at universities strong in science and engineering.
Among the nine flagship national universities, Gyeongsang National University and Jeju National University posted the largest declines in per-student spending. Gyeongsang National University's total education spending fell by 7.2 billion won from a year earlier to 457.8 billion won, while its enrollment rose by 673 to 20,456, cutting per-student spending to 22.38 million won from 23.5 million won over the year. Jeju National University's total education spending also fell by 11.4 billion won over the year to 293.9 billion won, lowering per-student spending to 25.52 million won from 26.31 million won a year earlier. Per-student spending rose slightly at the remaining regional flagship national universities, excluding these two and Pusan National University.
Ranked by per-student education spending, Kyungpook National University led the regional flagship national universities at 27.55 million won, followed by Pusan National University at 27.12 million won, Chonnam National University at 26.92 million won, Jeju National University at 25.52 million won and Chungbuk National University at 25.5 million won.
Total education spending at the nine universities rose about 2.6%, or 126.1 billion won, to 4.9513 trillion won last year from 4.8253 trillion won in 2024. Industry-academic cooperation foundation accounting alone increased by 121.6 billion won over the year, a rise of 7.0%. Enrollment at these schools grew by 4,600 to 194,632 from 190,032.
As a result, the education gap between regional flagship national universities and universities in Seoul appears to be widening. Per-student education spending at nine major private universities in Seoul — Yonsei University, Korea University, Sogang University, Sungkyunkwan University, Hanyang University, Chung-Ang University, Kyung Hee University, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies and Ewha Womans University — rose by about 1.01 million won over the year to 26.134 million won from 25.123 million won in 2024.
Yonsei University in particular posted per-student education spending of 41.61 million won, up 4.9% from a year earlier, becoming the first private university in Seoul to exceed the 40 million won mark. Korea University ranked second among the nine Seoul-based private universities with 34.69 million won, up 4.6% from a year earlier, followed by Sungkyunkwan University at 33.2 million won, up 2.2%, Hanyang University at 29.11 million won, up 4.3%, and Ewha Womans University at 22.74 million won, up 0.5%. Seoul National University's total education spending also rose to 1.9737 trillion won from 1.8322 trillion won over the year, lifting per-student spending to 65.09 million won from 63.02 million won.
The government plans to spend 213 billion won next year alone to provide full scholarships to incoming students at provincial national universities, but concerns are emerging that raising the core competitiveness of these universities will be difficult while per-student education spending remains flat. In particular, if enrollment at these national universities grows under policies such as free tuition and university consolidation, lifting per-student spending is expected to remain difficult even if total education spending increases through initiatives such as the plan to create 10 institutions on par with Seoul National University and future-response funds.
Yang Jung-ho, a professor of education at Sungkyunkwan University, said there is some ambiguity over whether the policy of covering full tuition at provincial national universities is meant for the universities themselves or for the students attending them. "Above all, the structure makes it difficult for universities to raise competitiveness through tuition support alone," the professor said.
