[2027 Budget Proposal] Next Year’s Education Budget Set at 117.6 Trillion Won... Local Grants 78.9 Trillion, Increased Investment in Regional Universities

Ministry of Education Proposes 117.6 Trillion Won Budget, Up 10.6%

Local Education Grants Total 78.9 Trillion Won

Co-Growth for Regions and Universities... 80 Billion Won Each for Three Flagship National Universities

The Ministry of Education will allocate a budget of approximately 117.6 trillion won next year. This represents a 10% increase from this year, with a focus on ensuring balanced growth from early childhood to university and lifelong education.

On September 1, the Ministry of Education announced its proposed budget for 2027, totaling 117.5962 trillion won. This is an increase of 11.2355 trillion won (10.6%) compared to the previous year's main budget of 106.3607 trillion won.

Ministry of Education

Specifically, the breakdown is as follows: 89.7354 trillion won (9.3%) for early childhood and primary and secondary education, 18.9661 trillion won (18.2%) for higher education, and 1.4084 trillion won (20.5%) for lifelong and vocational education.

The local education finance grant for primary and secondary education will amount to 78.9 trillion won. This figure is based on a new calculation method that considers the ordinary growth rate and the declining school-age population, replacing the previous domestic tax-linked rate. Compared to the previous year’s main budget (71.7 trillion won), this is an increase of 10.1%. The Ministry of Education anticipates that the grant amount will continue to rise under the revised formula, projecting 84.3 trillion won in 2028, 90.1 trillion won in 2029, and 92.7 trillion won in 2030. The ministry emphasized that legal safeguards have also been introduced in the amended Local Education Finance Grant Act to ensure the total grant does not decrease compared to the previous year.

The budget for higher education, early childhood education, and lifelong learning will also see significant increases. In particular, as part of the initiative to establish “10 Seoul National Universities,” competitiveness of flagship national universities will be strengthened by providing each of the three selected schools with a growth engine and artificial intelligence (AI) package worth 80 billion won each. Overall, the innovation support budget for flagship national universities will total 794.4 billion won, which is an increase of 145.7 billion won from the previous year.

A new regional balanced development scholarship program worth 328 billion won will be launched to enable local youth to focus on their studies without tuition concerns. Tuition assistance will be provided to 60,000 freshmen entering national universities in non-metropolitan areas (213 billion won), thereby attracting top talent to these regions and encouraging them to stay. For private universities outside metropolitan areas, the number of recipients of the local talent scholarship (115 billion won) will be expanded 2.5 times from 4,000 to 10,000 students.

Financial support to enhance the educational and research competitiveness of regional national universities, including all flagship national universities, will also be strengthened. Moving away from the previous annual funding system, a medium- to long-term investment strategy will be implemented, with a newly established “Regional National University Future Talent Growth Fund” of 691 billion won distributed among 21 regional national universities.

To foster future core talent that can secure leadership in advanced industries, 3.263 trillion won will be invested. Investment in advanced sector talent development will be expanded by 664.6 billion won, while new projects for private universities’ science and engineering infrastructure (600 billion won) and intensive AI convergence training at 40 universities and colleges (207 billion won) will be launched next year.

The education and talent account within the newly established Future Response Fund totals 4.9316 trillion won, focusing on narrowing the early childhood education and care gap, addressing the risk of local extinction, supporting youth settlement, and fostering talent to secure AI technological leadership. The government established the Future Response Fund by setting aside extra tax revenue generated from the semiconductor boom for dedicated use.

Minister of Education Choi Gyo-jin stated, “The 2027 budget proposal embodies our strong commitment for the nation to take responsibility for education and for nurturing future talent in response to the era’s critical challenges, including low birth rates, local extinction risk, and the AI transformation.” He added, “With the creation of the education and talent account within the Future Response Fund, we will strive to bring about tangible changes throughout the field, from the starting line of early childhood to higher and lifelong education.”

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