‘10 Seoul National Universities’ Initiative Sets Sail, but Without Jobs and Livable Communities, Funding Risks Going Down the Drain

Regional universities’ foundations weakened by talent flight to the Seoul metropolitan area and a shrinking college-age population
Government to invest $217 million annually in Pusan, Chonnam and Chungnam national universities to develop education and research hubs
Weak regional job markets and living conditions threaten to dilute the impact of fiscal support

The government has formally launched its “10 Seoul National Universities” initiative, selecting Pusan National University, Chonnam National University and Chungnam National University as the first recipients of support. It plans to invest $217 million annually to develop regional flagship national universities into education and research hubs for strategic industries and artificial intelligence (AI), while retaining students and research personnel who might otherwise leave for the Seoul metropolitan area. Initially focused on easing the university hierarchy centered on Seoul National University, the national university integration proposal has evolved into a policy aimed at strengthening the survival foundations of regional universities as the college-age population declines and regional depopulation accelerates. University funding alone, however, will not be enough to reverse the outflow of talent to the Seoul metropolitan area. Unless jobs and housing, healthcare and education infrastructure—currently concentrated in the capital region—are distributed more evenly across the country, the impact of large-scale fiscal support is likely to be diminished.

Education Ministry Steps Up Development of Regional Flagship National Universities

On September 1, Pusan National University, Chonnam National University and Chungnam National University were selected as the final recipients of package support under the Lee Jae-myung administration’s “10 Seoul National Universities” initiative. The government will bundle the Five Hubs and Three Special Zones growth engines, or strategic industries, with AI and provide comprehensive support spanning undergraduate programs, graduate schools and research institutes at the selected universities. A total of $217 million will be allocated to the universities annually. Of this amount, $87 million will be used to establish “branded colleges” and “specialized convergence research institutes” in growth-engine sectors, while $22 million will go toward creating regional AI hub universities. The remainder will be spent on related programs, including undergraduate education reform at regional flagship national universities and interregional shared universities.

The three selected universities will establish education and research systems and industry-academia-research collaboration frameworks to support workforce development for their respective regions’ growth-engine industries. Pusan National University will establish a College of Innovative Manufacturing Convergence encompassing southeastern growth-engine industries such as shipbuilding and marine engineering, mechanical systems and aerospace, while introducing industry-sponsored departments in partnership with LG Electronics, Hanwha and other companies. Chonnam National University will establish a College of Advanced Convergence focused on advanced semiconductors and future energy to spearhead megaprojects in the southwestern region, as well as joint research institutes with Samsung, Korea Electric Power Corporation and others. Chungnam National University will create a College of Science and Technology to train industrial and research personnel for the central region’s four principal growth engines.

Accelerating Talent Flight from Regional Flagship National Universities

The “10 Seoul National Universities” initiative originated from a plan to elevate nine regional flagship national universities to the level of “Seoul National Universities outside Seoul,” encouraging local students to attend universities in their home regions rather than move to the capital area. Regional universities are currently losing educational and research competitiveness as high-achieving students and research personnel migrate to the Seoul metropolitan area. According to Education Ministry data, 37,297 students withdrew from the nine regional flagship national universities between 2020 and 2025, averaging 6,216 per year. Their freshman enrollment rate stood at 99.7% over the same period. This indicates that even after filling most available places, the universities continued to lose substantial numbers of students through repeat entrance-examination attempts, transfers and other routes.

The capital-region aspirations of students approaching graduation are also weakening the human-resource foundations of regional universities. According to a survey by the Korean Educational Development Institute, 48.4% of students at four-year universities outside the Seoul metropolitan area said they intended to find employment or continue their studies in the capital region after graduation, while only 28.4% planned to remain in the region where their university was located. As students educated at regional universities leave in pursuit of employment or further study, graduate schools are struggling to secure applicants for master’s and doctoral programs. With a shrinking pool of graduate students and research assistants to sustain laboratories, universities are also finding it increasingly difficult to operate long-term research projects and advanced academic departments on a stable basis.

Student departures are increasingly translating into staffing shortages in graduate schools and research settings. A decline in high-performing undergraduates narrows the applicant pool for master’s and doctoral programs, placing additional strain on laboratories’ ability to carry out projects and train the next generation of researchers. If faculty departures intensify as well, the stable operation of major courses, supervision of graduate students and continuity of long-term research projects could also be jeopardized. According to Education Ministry data, 323 faculty members left the nine regional flagship national universities other than Seoul National University between 2021 and May 2025.

Table 1. Student and Faculty Departures from Regional Flagship National Universities

National University Integration Proposal Originated in Efforts to Break Seoul National University’s Entrenched Privilege

Discussions about easing the university hierarchy centered on Seoul National University date back to the mid-1990s. The concept of an integrated national university network aimed at narrowing disparities and establishing a cooperative framework among national universities emerged in 2001, and parties affiliated with the Democratic Party have included it in presidential campaign platforms since 2007. The “10 Seoul National Universities” proposal bearing the same name as the current policy entered mainstream public debate in 2021, when Kim Jong-young, a professor at Kyung Hee University, published a book under that title.

The original objective of the integrated national university network was to dismantle the academic-credential power and entrenched privilege long monopolized by Seoul National University. Proponents argued that the structure through which Seoul National University, at the apex of the university hierarchy, perpetuated hypercompetitive admissions and credentialism while absorbing top students and research funding had to be dismantled. A system of joint admissions, credit exchanges and shared degrees among national universities, including Seoul National University, was therefore proposed to disperse the status concentrated in a single institution. The aim was to erode Seoul National University’s monopolistic position by ensuring that students received education of a consistent standard and obtained equally recognized degrees regardless of which national university they attended.

Regional Universities Hit Directly by the Demographic Cliff

As university enrollment adjustments failed to keep pace with the decline in the college-age population, however, the policy’s center of gravity shifted toward the survival of regional universities. Regional institutions have declined to the point that the once-common term “prestigious regional university” has virtually disappeared. According to the Korean Educational Development Institute, the number of incoming students has been falling each year, primarily at four-year universities, junior colleges and vocational institutions outside the Seoul metropolitan area. Declining student numbers inevitably force departments to merge or close and courses to be reduced, while falling tuition revenue constrains universities’ capacity to recruit faculty and invest in research. Regional flagship national universities are also struggling to escape the demographic shock as the talent pipeline linking surrounding universities and graduate schools continues to weaken.

The decline of regional universities has far-reaching repercussions for local communities, destabilizing both their population and industrial foundations. Universities serve as a major channel for attracting young people from other areas through higher education. Professors, researchers and administrative staff have historically supported regional economies by creating stable employment and consumer demand. The situation changes, however, once freshman enrollment begins to fall. As departments and laboratories contract, commercial districts around campuses and housing demand weaken, while regional companies face worsening labor shortages. At the same time, young people with fewer educational and employment options move to the Seoul metropolitan area, further eroding universities’ ability to recruit students. Universities with shrinking enrollments then cut courses and research personnel, while the loss of jobs and consumption in the surrounding region accelerates youth outmigration, creating a vicious cycle.

Fiscal Support Alone Is Insufficient; Jobs and Residential Infrastructure Must Be Integrated

Concentrating financial resources on regional universities alone, however, is unlikely to halt the outflow of talent. A university’s competitiveness depends not only on campus facilities and research funding but also on the companies that can employ its graduates and the housing, healthcare and education environment in which researchers can settle. Without high-quality jobs and a solid living infrastructure in the region, universities will struggle to retain the talent they produce. Even if new colleges and research institutes are established, personnel are likely to return to the Seoul metropolitan area after the programs end unless the surrounding industries and urban infrastructure can support them.

The shrinking college-age population also requires changes to the criteria used to distribute funding for regional university policy. As the pool of prospective students continues to contract, maintaining every university’s enrollment quota and organizational structure at current levels is unlikely to be sustainable. A survey by the Korea Research Institute for Local Administration also identified industry, employment and housing as major conditions for settling outside the capital region, while demand for healthcare and transportation was relatively higher in county-level areas. This has strengthened calls to link support for regional universities with corporate attraction and the expansion of housing, essential healthcare, care and education services, transportation and cultural infrastructure.

Determining where to concentrate limited resources will also be critical. If departments unable to meet enrollment quotas and overlapping majors offered by multiple universities are left intact, funding will be dispersed across faculty and facility operating costs, leaving less capacity to invest in advanced research and attract outstanding talent. This is why experts argue that universities within each region should divide specialized fields among themselves while jointly offering foundational and general-education courses. One efficient option would be for flagship universities to handle research and practical training linked to key regional industries, while surrounding institutions divide responsibility for foundational education and the training of frontline personnel.

Moreover, the expansion of digital education has increased the scope for universities to jointly operate courses and curricula. Expanding online courses, interuniversity curricula and credit exchanges could reduce the burden of duplicating similar majors and courses across campuses with small student populations. Laboratory work, clinical education, research-team operations and industry-linked projects, however, still require in-person facilities and personnel. One proposed alternative is to use shared platforms for theoretical instruction while allowing flagship universities to concentrate on research and practical training connected to regional industries.