Busan City, Busan National University and Busan National University of Education Establish Glocal University Vision and Innovation Strategy ... Full Effort to Designation!

April 4th, 2 PM at City Hall, Busan Mayor Hosts Glocal University Vision and Innovation Strategy Report Meeting

Mayor Park Hyung-jun's Core Policy, Advancing Busan's Government-Industry-Academia System to Realize a 'True Local Era'

On the 4th at 2 p.m., Busan City held the ‘Glocal University Vision and Innovation Strategy Report Meeting’ in the small conference room of City Hall, establishing and announcing the innovation vision and strategies for the official designation of Glocal Universities.

‘Glocal University 30’ is a Ministry of Education-led public contest project that aims to designate and support 30 non-metropolitan local universities as Glocal Universities by 2026. These universities break down barriers inside and outside the campus and domestically and internationally, leading the co-growth of the region and the university based on partnerships with local industries.

Before the official designation of Glocal Universities, the Ministry of Education preliminarily designated 15 universities, including Pusan National University and Busan National University of Education, in June by evaluating innovation, performance management, and regional characteristics.

Through procedures such as official designation evaluations for the preliminarily designated universities, the Ministry plans to select the final 10 universities by November.

This year, the city has taken the first year of its leap to become a ‘Regional Industry-Academia Cooperation Hub City’ and has been doing its best to ensure that Pusan National University and Busan National University of Education can be officially designated as Glocal Universities.

In March this year, the city was selected for the pilot area contest of the Regional Innovation-Centered University Support System (RISE) and the Regional Innovation Project (RIS) based on local government-university cooperation. The city plans to achieve a grand slam in Ministry of Education public projects by securing the official designation of Glocal Universities as well.

In July, the city formed the Glocal University Support Group, led by the Deputy Mayor for Economic Affairs of Busan, to discuss university innovation strategies linked to local industries and to derive key promotion tasks.

The report meeting held on the 4th, presided over by the Mayor of Busan, will be attended by the presidents of Pusan National University and Busan National University of Education, as well as heads of related organizations, to discuss the vision and innovation strategies of Glocal Universities in preparation for the Ministry of Education’s official designation of ‘Glocal University 30.’

Notably, this report meeting is expected to lead to a chemical integration rather than a mere physical integration between universities, as student representatives from Pusan National University and Busan National University of Education will participate alongside local business circles such as the Busan Chamber of Commerce and innovation institutions.

The newly prepared ‘Glocal University Vision’ aims to create a new future educational city through the Edu-TRIangle, consisting of three major areas with nine strategic tasks: ▲Governance convergence model for educational innovation ▲Educational system convergence model for cultivating integrative talents ▲Campus specialization model leading future industries.

① As a governance convergence model for educational innovation, through the integration of Pusan National University and Busan National University of Education, it will be the first in Korea to promote the training of teachers for early childhood, elementary, and secondary education equipped with core competencies.

While maintaining the professionalism and independence of elementary education, the plan is to advance teacher training.

A specialized education curriculum for teacher training will be implemented, including a customized pre-service teacher practicum system tailored to educational sites, and the activation of a digital campus will be promoted.

② To cultivate integrative talents, demand-centered educational innovation will be pursued to bring about a paradigm shift in education at Pusan National University.

Reforms such as integrated academic systems replacing major and department-based admissions will be implemented, and strong walls between disciplines and professors will be broken down to operate student-centered curricula.

③ As a campus specialization model leading future industries, the university’s role will be strengthened beyond before to enhance the global competitiveness of local industries.

The city and Pusan National University plan to link core policies for the local era announced at the Local Era Declaration Ceremony on September 14?such as Opportunity Development Zones (finance, fintech, semiconductors), Education Freedom Zones (Edutech), and Future New Industries (quantum, ICT, lifecare)?with the innovation strategic tasks of Glocal Universities.

To this end, a cooperative partnership among the city, universities, and local industries will be established to cultivate customized talents based on local industry demands and promote industrial innovation.

The city will spare no administrative and financial support to ensure that Pusan National University and Busan National University of Education are finally selected as Glocal Universities.

Furthermore, the city plans to nurture Glocal Universities to be competitive with prestigious foreign universities, creating a model case of co-growth between universities and the region.

The city plans to invest approximately 100 billion KRW of municipal funds over five years, including direct investments and indirect investments such as infrastructure development, in five specialized industrial fields of Glocal Universities: quantum, information and communication technology (ICT), semiconductors, lifecare, digital finance, and Edutech. This amount is equivalent to the total budget supported by the government over five years.

Additionally, to enable talents grown locally to find employment and settle in the region, the city will establish specialized industrial complexes, expand the designation of regulatory special zones, attract new companies, research institutes, and innovation institutions, and establish comprehensive measures to strengthen residential conditions such as youth housing, welfare, and culture in a thorough and substantial manner.

If Pusan National University and Busan National University of Education are designated as Glocal Universities by the Ministry of Education in November this year, it is expected to provide significant momentum for local universities to become the cradle of regional industrial innovation and talent cultivation, leading to a genuine local era.

Following the Ministry of Education’s plan to designate 30 Glocal Universities by 2026, the city will build cooperative partnerships with local universities possessing innovation will and capabilities to ensure many universities in the Busan area are designated, and will prepare additional designation strategies starting next year.

Mayor Park Hyung-jun stated, “It is necessary to maximize the innovation capabilities of Busan’s universities so that the region and universities can become a catalyst for co-growth and leap into world-class universities,” adding, “We will do our best to lead the local era as a regional industry-academia cooperation hub city through the expansion of Glocal Universities and the establishment of the Regional Innovation-Centered University Support System (RISE).”

Busan City Hall.

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