Regional Universities’ Restructuring Accelerated

Colleges and their project teams were selected to participate in the New University for Regional Innovation (NURI) Project on June 16. The NURI project strives for the equitable development of the nation by selecting and nurturing regional universities with excellence by region.

The government plans to support only NURI universities and colleges with its major efforts. The government predicts that the project will accelerate the pace of regional university restructuring, and that those universities which do not get funding from the government will face grave difficulties in managing their schools, including difficulty recruiting new students.

The Ministry of Education and Human Resources announced that day that they have selected 112 universities--including two-year associate-degree colleges--of 111 project teams as schools supported by the NURI project. A 1,420-billion-won budget will be spent by NURI, including 220 billion won this year, through 2008.

Altogether, 454 project candidates nationwide have applied for NURI project inclusion. Universities, local governments, and local industries have formed a project group to promote mutual efforts and to cultivate diverse manpower for regional development.

Large-scale project teams that are funded with 3 to 5 billion won per year number 25, mid-scale ones with one to three billion won, 25, small-scale ones of less than one billion, 61. Seventy nine universities among 135 four-year regional universities and 33 colleges among 106 regional colleges will be supported by the program.

The ministry made a decision to equally distribute the available financial resources into 11 districts in the nation, excluding the metropolitan area, while selectively focusing on supporting the competitive areas.

As a result, “unusual changes” occurred, such as regional hub universities being disqualified for the program like Busan University that was selected for only one mid-scale project.

The selected project teams are supported with a five-year supply of personnel expenses, management costs, money for materials and machines in laboratories, scholarships, and other benefits. The Ministry of Education will discontinue the assistance if a project team disqualifies itself in annual evaluations.

Seong-Chul Hong sungchul@donga.com