Mokpo National Maritime University, Current Students, Alumni, and Parents Group 'Support' Name Change

Education Minister Faces Successive Petitions... Declares Joint Response

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Seo Young-seo] Amidst the tense standoff between Mokpo Maritime University and the local community over the university's name change, three organizations supporting the change declared a joint response on the 15th.

The three organizations?the Mokpo Maritime University Student Council (President Lee Gyu-tae), the Mokpo Maritime University Regional Alumni Federation (President Hwang Geun-ho), and the Mokpo Maritime University Maritime College Parents' Association (President Lee Jae-hyuk)?have agreed to multifaceted cooperation to achieve the name change to ‘Marine National University.’

As the first step in their joint response, the three organizations recently submitted petitions requesting Minister of Education Yoo Eun-hye to approve the name change to Marine National University.

Through the petition, the Student Council stated, “Among the two maritime universities in Korea established by the state for the special purpose of training maritime officers, our school has faced disadvantages in all aspects such as freshman recruitment and employment due to the regional name ‘Mokpo.’ We want to compete not just domestically but globally with many maritime talents worldwide. To do so, a new brand free from the regional name must precede.”

The Student Council added, “While we cannot say that the university will definitely develop just by changing its name, we believe it can be a significant change. We trust that this change will lay the foundation for Mokpo Maritime University to survive and develop amid rapidly changing educational environments.”

The Regional Alumni Federation stated in their petition to the Ministry of Education, “The claim by the Korea Maritime University Alumni Association that there is confusion with the name National Korea Maritime University aims to remove both ‘Korea’ and ‘National’ from the name. This contradicts the missions of both maritime universities to nurture maritime talents and industries through fair competition, as well as the educational purpose.”

They further said, “There are successful cases of universities like Gyeongsang National University transforming their image through name changes. Also, a name change is a matter of survival for the alma mater with no conflicting interests.”

They especially urged the Korea Maritime University Alumni Association to awaken from their baseless opposition.

The Maritime College Parents' Association stated, “While many universities have left Mokpo, Mokpo Maritime University has quietly held its ground for the past 71 years. The university still remains there. The purpose of establishing and operating a higher education institution is not regional promotion, and the university should not be perceived or allowed to degrade into a mere tool for regional promotion.” They added, “The local government’s stance demanding that the new name must include the regional name because the current name ‘Mokpo’ helps regional promotion, and opposing any name change that excludes the place name, is a political attempt to place a special-purpose national university under the influence of a specific region and can only be seen as regional selfishness.”

Moreover, they said, “It is hard to understand how Mokpo City and the City Council, which have administrative and political power, justify their opposition by citing only 6% of signatures against the name change decision, despite 62% of Mokpo citizens supporting it.”

These three organizations requested the Ministry of Education to lay the foundation for Mokpo Maritime University to become a more competitive university through innovative changes, starting with the name change to Marine National University, and to grow into a global maritime university connecting the world to the Republic of Korea through the sea.

The Mokpo Maritime University Student Council, the Mokpo Maritime University Regional Alumni Federation, and the Mokpo Maritime University Maritime College Parents' Association collectively stated that if opposition from the region and other universities continues, they will also pursue the option of relocating the university to another region.

Meanwhile, the Parents' Association disclosed the results of a survey regarding the scenario “if the name change excluding Mokpo is not realized.”

Among all respondents, 98% of parents answered that they would push for relocation to another region (such as Incheon or Pyeongtaek), while only 2% said the university should remain in Mokpo, openly expressing dissatisfaction with the regional selfishness of Mokpo City.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.