Step 4 BK21 Project, Strengthening Support for Regional Graduate Schools and Prospective Graduate Students

Ministry of Education Announces Revised 4th Phase BK21
Reflecting Increased Special Account for Higher Education

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] The government plans to expand support for regional graduate schools through the Brain Korea (BK) 21 project and provide research scholarships to prospective graduate students.

On the 24th, the Ministry of Education and the National Research Foundation of Korea announced the "Revised Basic Plan for the 4th Phase Brain Korea 21 Project." The 4th phase BK21 project is a research-centered university development initiative that the government has been promoting from 2020 to 2027 over seven years to cultivate master's and doctoral-level talents who will proactively respond to social changes such as the 4th Industrial Revolution and demographic shifts.

With the establishment of a special account for university education development (Special Account for Higher and Lifelong Education Support), this year's budget increased by 118 billion KRW from last year to 527.1 billion KRW. The Ministry of Education plans to use the increased funds to significantly strengthen support for graduate schools outside the metropolitan area.

First, four additional regional graduate schools were selected as targets for the "Graduate School Innovation Support Project," which supports the enhancement of graduate school capabilities, and 27.8 billion KRW of the Graduate School Innovation Support Project budget will be intensively invested in regional graduate schools.

According to the Ministry of Education's plan, the Graduate School Innovation Project support targets include 10 graduate schools in the metropolitan area and 14 regional (non-metropolitan) graduate schools, with average support amounts of 3.2 billion KRW per school in the metropolitan area and 3.5 billion KRW in the regions, with the regions receiving more.

Additionally, a new "Junior BK" project will be established using Graduate School Innovation Support funds to provide research scholarships to prospective graduate students (undergraduate juniors and above), and in the long term, plans to link the Graduate School Innovation Support Project with the "Regional Innovation-Centered University Support System" (RISE) are also being considered.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Education decided to increase the research scholarship amount for graduate students by 300,000 KRW to help them focus on research and studies. Over the past 20 years, BK21 project research scholarships have increased by 75% for master's students and 116% for doctoral students compared to phase 1, but this adjustment reflects the demand to alleviate the economic burden on graduate students by making the scholarships more realistic.

Benefits will be provided for excellent achievements to encourage performance creation. A mid-term evaluation will be conducted for 369 educational research teams participating in the BK21 "Future Talent Cultivation Project," with performance bonuses awarded to the top 20% of research teams, and the bottom 30% of educational research teams will be eliminated. For 200 outstanding participating doctoral (course-completed) students, overseas training expenses (up to 26 million KRW for one year) will be supported to encourage joint research with international institutions and provide opportunities to build networks with overseas researchers.

Separately, the Ministry of Education will additionally select and support six educational research teams in the intelligent semiconductor field as targets of the BK21 "Innovative Talent Cultivation Project." The educational research teams selected this year will receive support for graduate student research scholarships, salaries for early-career researchers, and internationalization expenses until September 2027.

Lee Ju-ho, Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs and Minister of Education, stated, "This change in the project plan aims to strengthen regional innovation capabilities through the development of regional graduate schools," and added, "We will continue to support practical regional balanced development in education and research fields."

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