"With the government's free tuition policy for regional national universities and now budget support under the 'Ten Seoul National Universities' initiative, we expect competition for admission to intensify in the 2027 academic year."
Choi Jae-won, president of Pusan National University, made the remarks in an interview with The Seoul Economic Daily at a summer seminar of the Korean Council for University Education held recently on Jeju Island, predicting that admissions competition at regional flagship national universities would grow tougher. Teachers say the view that students no longer need to attend a university in Seoul has gained ground among high school students outside the capital region this year, and statistics point to the same trend.
The share of high school students outside the capital region who intend to apply to universities in their home region reached its highest level in five years, according to an analysis released on the 6th by Jinhaksa, an admissions consultancy, based on five years of early admission mock application data and newly collected data covering 53,107 students this year. On the 1st, the Ministry of Education selected Pusan National University, Chungnam National University and Chonnam National University for the "Ten Seoul National Universities" program, which provides each school with an additional 70 billion won ($51 million) a year for five years on top of funding for other flagship national universities. Analysts expect admissions competition to tighten further at those three schools.
By region, 77.6% of students in Busan, Ulsan and Gyeongsangnam-do said they intended to apply to universities in their home region, the highest among the eight regions outside the capital area. The 5.2 percentage-point increase from a year earlier was the largest, tied with Jeju. Spending per student at Pusan National University, the flagship national university in the region, is also expected to rise sharply following its selection for the program.
High school students in Daejeon and Chungcheongnam-do, home to Chungnam National University, also showed a marked increase in their intention to apply locally. The share rose to 70.7% for the 2027 academic year from 65.9% for 2026. The figure stood at just 59.9% for the 2023 academic year, meaning it has climbed more than 10 percentage points in four years.
In Gwangju and Jeollanam-do, where Chonnam National University was selected for the program, 60.0% of high school students said they wanted to apply to universities in the region, up 1.8 percentage points from a year earlier. The share also rose in every other region outside the capital area, including Gangwon-do (up 4.7 percentage points), Daegu and Gyeongsangbuk-do (up 1.5 percentage points), Jeollabuk-do (up 2.7 percentage points), Jeju (up 5.2 percentage points) and Chungcheongbuk-do (up 4.0 percentage points).
"Outside the capital region, there is a clear trend of students considering universities in their home region as a realistic option," said Woo Yeon-cheol, head of Jinhaksa's admissions strategy research institute. "As support policies for regional universities, such as tuition subsidies for regional national universities, take concrete shape, more students are likely to treat local universities as a main option in this year's early admissions."
