Busan City Partners with Universities to Create 'HAHA Campus'... First Case Nationwide

April 26, 4:50 PM, Mayor Park Hyung-jun Meets Son Sam-seok, Catholic Diocese of Busan Head, at Busan Catholic University

Mayor Park Hyung-jun: "I hope Haha Campus becomes a model of government-industry-academia cooperation and that we work closely

Busan City will develop the Busan Catholic University seminary campus into the '(tentative name) Digital Senior Healthcare Edu Complex.'

The ‘HAHA (Happy Aging Healthy Aging) Campus’ is a large-scale senior complex integrating leisure, culture, learning, research, and industrial facilities.

Mayor Park Hyung-jun will visit Busan Catholic University at 4:50 PM on the 26th to meet with Son Sam-seok, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Busan. During this meeting, they will pledge to develop the seminary campus into the HAHA Campus and tour the seminary campus area, which is the project site.

At today’s meeting, Mayor Park Hyung-jun and Bishop Son Sam-seok will actively share their agreement on the continuous need for innovation in response to low birth rates and a super-aged society. They will discuss plans to fully open the Busan Catholic University seminary campus to the public and develop it into the HAHA Campus, a large-scale senior complex integrating leisure, health, learning, research, and industrial facilities.

This HAHA Campus development is the nation’s first case of converting a large university facility into a senior lifelong education facility. It is regarded as a new type of cooperative model that transforms the increasing idle resources of regional universities, due to declining school-age populations, into a growth foundation for the care economy in a super-aged society.

The city plans to first utilize available facilities and, after the first phase of the project, gradually remodel the seminary campus facilities in stages according to additional maintenance and relocation to create the HAHA Campus space.

Functionally, the project aims not only to create new welfare services using campus facilities but also to promote talent development and industrial growth related to aging services (senior-tailored services) and aging tech (senior-tailored technology) through industry-academia cooperation, working step-by-step with the university.

In the first phase, three buildings?the Theological Institute, Bishop’s Residence, and Student Hall?with a total area of 9,255㎡ will be remodeled to create ▲ a ‘Healthcare Zone’ equipped with treatment centers and health and lifestyle sports facilities, ▲ a ‘Digital Smart Zone’ for digital experiences and learning spaces, and ▲ a ‘Senior Campus Zone’ with various program rooms and community spaces.

The project will focus on enabling citizens to freely enjoy various programs and the university campus throughout the day at an affordable cost of under 10,000 KRW per day.

Especially leveraging the advantages of university facilities, various treatment centers linked with the school’s medical and health departments will be operated, and new university cooperative programs such as establishing a senior talent development department applying the senior special admission system will be run. New businesses like the Busan-style Elder Hostel (senior educational travel program) utilizing dormitory facilities will also be actively developed and promoted.

Additionally, welfare facilities such as restaurants and bathhouses, along with healing facilities like walking trails and auxiliary convenience facilities in the outdoor campus area, will be established.

The project will begin a ‘feasibility study and basic plan establishment service’ related to the HAHA Campus development in the second half of this year to comprehensively review the required budget, funding plans, and ripple effects. If the project’s necessity is recognized, it will be actively pursued.

Son Sam-seok, Bishop of the Busan Diocese, stated on the day, “Busan Catholic University will continue to grow together with the local community as a reliable partner for citizens,” and promised to actively cooperate in the development and operation of the HAHA Campus.

Mayor Park Hyung-jun expressed gratitude to the university for making the significant decision to fully open the seminary campus for Busan citizens and said, “As Busan Catholic University specializes in health and medical fields, I hope to closely cooperate in nurturing talent and fostering industries related to aging service technology,” adding, “Let us work together to make the HAHA Campus a good model of industry-academia cooperation.”

Busan City Hall.

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