Daekyo-hyeop Requests University Development Policies to President-Elect Including 'Increase in Education Expenses Per University Student'

Increase in Education Expenses per University Student at Elementary and Secondary Levels
Calls for Improvement of University Establishment and Operation Requirements That Hinder Innovation

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] The Korean Council for University Education, a consortium of general universities, has requested President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol to promote university development policies such as increasing per-student education expenses and improving university establishment and operation requirements.

On the 13th, the Council announced that it requested university development policies under the slogan, "The competitiveness of universities is the competitiveness of the nation and the future society. If universities die, there is no future."

The policies requested by the Council include ▲ raising per-university student education expenses to the level of elementary and middle school students ▲ expanding autonomy in university education ▲ world-class research and talent cultivation that align with national competitiveness ▲ balanced development of regional universities and support for restructuring.

Currently, the per-student education expense for university students is $11,290, which is lower than that for elementary students ($12,535) and middle school students ($14,978). In response, the Council emphasized the need to enact a Special Act on Higher Education Financial Support and to convert the current national education tax into a "Higher Education Tax."

The Council also demanded that regulations hindering innovation, such as university establishment and operation requirements, be improved to suit the digital era. They proposed shifting from uniform government university evaluations to customized evaluations and supporting university innovation and specialization through the establishment of university consulting support centers.

To lead global knowledge, they suggested focusing on nurturing regional "Global Korean Universities (GKU)." The idea is to develop specialized fields reflecting regional characteristics and to strengthen competitiveness by specializing regional universities through industry-academia-research cooperation in technology development and research.

To overcome the crisis faced by regional universities, they proposed promoting small and medium-sized city-type win-win innovation parks that recreate university campuses as university city-type complex spaces. At the same time, they demanded comprehensive management plans for regional marginal universities, including systematic closure and liquidation support for private universities that are difficult to revive.

The Council stated, "The university development policy tasks requested to the new government’s president-elect reflect the opinions of university presidents, and we will continue to strive to ensure that the proposed contents are realized as policies in the new government."

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