Unification of Chungnam and Chungbuk Universities

Central Korea’s distinguished national universities, Chungnam and Chungbuk, are coming together.

According to officials of both universities, these schools have been holding conferences since the middle of last month to discuss unification. They have agreed on a basic unification object and have decided to exchange memorandums in a couple of weeks.

Precedents of national university mergers are: Busan Fisheries University and Busan Technology University merger into Pukyong National University in 1996; and Gonju National University acquisition of Gonju University of Culture.

The two universities are organizing a Unification Committee and Administration Committee, in which each dean will be the leader, and continuing to proceed with the unification process. On the other hand, in order to achieve the region’s consensus, they plan to set up a Unification Settlement Committee with prominent men.

Also, if needed, they will initiate their own structural adjustment and then discuss with the Ministry of Education and Human Resources for expertise in professional areas and to maximize the synergy effect.

Chungbuk University, established in 1951, has 12 colleges, a division, 112 majors, and 18,000 students.

Chungnam University, established in 1952, has 25,000 students, 12 colleges, a division, and 96 majors.

Ki-Jin Lee Jang-Ki Woo doyoce@donga.com straw825@donga.com