Gwangju-Jeonnam, Ulsan-Gyeongnam, and Chungbuk Selected as Specialized Areas for Higher Education Innovation

Customized Determination of Regulatory Special Cases and Extent
Regulatory Special Cases to be Applied for Four Years Starting March Next Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] The Ministry of Education announced on the 29th that Gwangju-Jeonnam, Ulsan-Gyeongnam, and Chungbuk have been newly designated as Higher Education Innovation Special Zones.

On the 24th, the Ministry of Education held a subcommittee meeting for the designation and management of Higher Education Innovation Special Zones, where it reviewed and approved the "Higher Education Innovation Special Zone Designation Plans" submitted by the three regions.

The Special Zones are a regulatory exemption system introduced for the first time in the field of higher education based on the "Local University Promotion Act." Local universities can apply region-specific tailored regulatory relaxations (exemptions) to establish and promote various higher education innovation models. The scope and degree of regulatory exemptions are determined in a customized manner, and the duration is up to six years (4+2).

The effects of regulatory exemptions following the designation of Special Zones will be applied for four years starting from March next year, after official gazette notification and amendments to the academic regulations of participating universities.

In all designated Special Zones, regional cooperation committees will be able to define the scope of "off-campus mobile classes." Classes can be conducted more freely outside university classrooms, and when operating joint curricula involving multiple universities, face-to-face classes can be held, and corporate training, experiments, and industrial facilities can also be utilized.

In the Gwangju-Jeonnam Special Zone, the scope of credits earned at other universities among participating universities that can be recognized as graduation credits at the original university will be expanded from the current limit of up to 1/2 to up to 3/4. This is expected to further activate the operation of the Gwangju-Jeonnam Regional Innovation Convergence Major.

The Ministry of Education plans to analyze the performance of Special Zone operations during the regulatory exemption period and promote institutionalization through future amendments to laws such as the Higher Education Act to support the sustainability of higher education innovation models developed in each region.

Based on support for the "Local Government-University Cooperation-Based Regional Innovation Project (RIS)," as shared universities such as the USG Shared University in Ulsan-Gyeongnam begin full-scale operation, the legalization of shared universities will also be reviewed within next year.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Yoo Eun-hye said, "By implementing tailored regulatory exemptions needed by the regions, we hope to remove obstacles that hinder regional innovation and establish a foundation where local universities and regions can actively nurture local talent together."

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