Seven New Glocal Universities Designated as Regional Hubs to Counter Local Decline

Seven new models, encompassing nine universities, have joined the "Glocal University Project," a vital initiative for universities outside the Seoul metropolitan area. With this addition, the Glocal University system now consists of 27 models and 39 universities in total. The Ministry of Education plans to provide each university with up to 100 billion won in financial support and regulatory exemptions over the next five years, aiming to achieve both balanced regional development and university innovation.

On September 28, the Ministry of Education announced that seven models-Kyungsung University, Soonchunhyang University, Chonnam National University, Jeju National University, Chosun University, Chosun Nursing College (integrated), Chungnam National University, Kongju National University (integrated), and Hanseo University-have been officially designated as Glocal Universities for 2025. These universities received high evaluations for presenting differentiated strategies such as innovation in education and research utilizing AI, self-sufficiency models based on independent revenue, global cooperation systems in specialized fields, and integration among universities.

The Glocal University Project Promotion Team at Kangwon National University held the 1st Glocal University Promotion Committee meeting for the 2025 academic year on the 21st of last month at the Chuncheon Campus University Headquarters. They discussed the major achievements of the Glocal University 30 project and the plans for this year's promotion. Yonhap News

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Previously, the Ministry of Education selected ten universities each in 2023 and 2024. This year, out of 18 preliminary candidates, seven were ultimately chosen as officially designated Glocal Universities. With this designation, the Glocal University Project has entered a full-scale nationwide expansion phase.

The Glocal University Project is a large-scale support initiative designed to address the concentration of resources in the Seoul metropolitan area and the crisis of regional decline. When universities, local governments, and industries collaborate to implement innovative models, the government provides financial support and regulatory exemptions. The Ministry of Education stated, "We plan to focus on nurturing non-metropolitan universities with the potential to grow to a world-class level and make them engines of regional growth."

In particular, the major national universities will be developed as "specialized research universities" under the strategy of "creating ten Seoul National Universities." This will be achieved by linking them with local science and technology-focused universities, government-funded research institutes, and regional universities. The approach involves building an industry-academia-research cooperation ecosystem tailored to the "Five Core, Three Specialized" (five major national universities plus three specialized universities) growth engine industries.

Choi Gyojin, Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs and Minister of Education, is speaking at the 6th Provincial and Metropolitan Deputy Superintendents of Education Meeting for 2025 held on the 25th at the Korea Educational Facilities Safety Institute in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

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Choi Gyojin, Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs and Minister of Education, stated, "In an era where balanced national growth is not a choice but a destiny, the role of universities in nurturing talent for regional development and fostering industry-academia-research collaboration is extremely important. I hope that specialized regional universities will take the lead in this effort."

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