[2026 Parliamentary Audit] Choi Kyojin: "Building 10 Seoul National Universities, at least two more regions to receive support next year"

Education Minister Choi Kyojin said of the “Building 10 Seoul National Universities” project, “We are planning to provide additional support to at least two regions next year as well.”

The plan is to expand the number of recipients next year, following priority support this year for three regional flagship national universities: Pusan National University, Chonnam National University, and Chungnam National University.

Yonhap News Agency

At a parliamentary audit by the National Assembly Education Committee on October 7, Minister Choi was asked by Ahn Gyubaek of the Democratic Party of Korea about plans to expand the project next year. He replied, “We are planning to support at least two regions next year as well, taking into comprehensive consideration factors such as the budget during discussions in the National Assembly.”

That day, Ahn noted that the “Building 10 Seoul National Universities” project had been designed with a focus on science and engineering as it was linked to regional strategic industries. “A grounding in the humanities is also necessary for science and engineering to advance,” Ahn said. “Regional flagship universities have already made considerable progress in science and engineering, and we must not go further down a policy path that eliminates the humanities.”

In response, Minister Choi said, “Because the National Land Transformation project is aimed at achieving overall regional balance across the country, it ended up being structured that way, with a focus on science and engineering,” and emphasized expanding financial support for the humanities and social sciences. “For programs such as the Humanities and Social Sciences Research Institute Support Program, we have increased next year’s budget to nearly twice this year’s,” Choi said. “We will continue to pay attention and make improvements.”

Kang Kyungsook of the Rebuilding Korea Party also called for expanding the “Building 10 Seoul National Universities” project. “Bold and balanced investment across all regional flagship national universities is necessary,” Kang said, adding that “a major expansion of full-time faculty is essential to securing world-class research competitiveness.” She asked whether additional universities would be selected next year.

Minister Choi said the matter had “not been finalized,” but answered, “Yes,” when Kang followed up by asking whether the government would invite applications to select additional universities if the budget were increased during the National Assembly’s budget review process.

“In this round of evaluations, we will consider comprehensively each university’s level of preparedness, as described in its submission, and its links to each region’s growth engines,” Minister Choi said. “We will have to see what the budget situation is, but we will do our utmost to increase the number by at least two.”

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