Presidents of some regional flagship national universities excluded from the government's concentrated funding under its "Creating 10 Seoul National Universities" initiative said additional schools should be added or reselected after a performance review in two to three years. While complaints surfaced over the selection process, including the abrupt announcement of results, the presidents appeared to accept the outcome itself.
The selection results were discussed at the third national and public university presidents' council meeting of 2026, held on the 3rd at Gyeongsang National University's Tongyeong campus, according to education officials. On the 1st, the government named Pusan National University, Chonnam National University and Chungnam National University as the first schools to receive concentrated support under the program, with each to receive 70 billion won ($50 million) annually over the next five years.
One flagship national university president said the meeting concluded that every region should first be given an opportunity for balanced growth, with differentiated funding to follow based on results after two to three years. "We conveyed our position that all nine regional flagship national universities should move forward together to foster regional strategic industries and cultivate talent," the president said. Another president said participants discussed the need to give smaller regions a chance to develop strategic industries in order to prevent regional decline and achieve balanced growth.
Some attendees expressed regret over the selection process. "We were preparing a presentation when the results were suddenly announced, which left us bewildered," one flagship national university president said. "For large-scale projects, presidents typically present in person and go through a question-and-answer session to verify the feasibility of their plans, but that process appears to have been absent this time."
The presidents of the six regional flagship national universities ultimately passed over for the program held a separate meeting that day to exchange views on the outcome, according to sources.
While senior Education Ministry officials, including the minister and the head of the higher education office, attended the two council meetings held in the first half of this year, no ministry official was present at this meeting. The ministry said it did not attend separately because the gathering was intended as a year-end wrap-up.
