233 universities selected for government financial support

Aug 18, 2021, 09:01 am

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/ Source: The Ministry of Education

AsiaToday reporter Lee Seung-wook

A total of 233 universities nationwide, including 136 general universities and 97 vocational colleges, will be able to receive general financial support from the government for three years through the University Innovation Support Project. In connection with financial support, the Ministry of Education decided to encourage universities develop their own specialized projects and promote intensive and appropriate rightsizing.

The Ministry of Education and the Korea Educational Development Institute announced Tuesday that they notified universities of the preliminary result of the ‘2021 University Basic Competency Assessment’ after deliberation by the University Structural Reform Committee.

According to the preliminary results, 136 general universities, including Sogang University, Sungkyunkwan University and Yonsei University, as well as 97 vocational colleges, including Kyungmin University, Daelim University, and Myongji College, have been selected for the government’s support program. On the other hand, 52 universities, including Sungkonghoe University, Sungshin Women’s University, and Inha University, have been excluded from the financial support.

The education ministry said it selected universities in consideration of the universities chosen in 2018 for the government financial support program as well as tough situation that universities are facing in terms of operation amid the pandemic.

The evaluation was carried out on 285 out of 319 target universities. The score was calculated based on quantitative assessment, quantitative qualitative assessment, and deductions. In this process, 20 universities, including 12 general universities and 8 colleges, where major university officials received audit dispositions related to corruption, criminal punishments and administrative dispositions were subject to differential deductions depending on the severity of case.

For the sake of balanced national development, 90 percent of the list have been selected by region first, and the remaining 10 percent in order of high scores nationwide. The regional selection scale has been expanded compared to the 5 to 1 in the previous assessment in 2018.

For the next three years, the selected universities are expected to annually receive an average of KRW 4.8 billion for general universities and KRW 3.7 billion for vocational colleges per school. The amount of support per school this year for general universities selected in the assessment 2018 was KRW 4.83 billion, and KRW 3.75 billion for vocational colleges.

Instead of receiving subsidies, those selected universities should promote rightsizing, such as self-innovation and reduction of quota. The education ministry plans to improve the system so that universities can adjust their quota flexibly, and to give incentives separately to universities with excellent rightsizing.

Those universities that receive general financial support will need to develop self-innovation plans, including rightsizing, by March next year, and the education ministry will check so-called the ‘maintenance sufficiency rate’ for each university in the second half of next year and suspend support for non-fulfilling universities.

“Based on the results of the assessment, we will prepare for future education so that universities overcome the COVID-19 crisis and self-innovate,” Education minister Yoo Eun-hye said. “We will prepare the next university basic competency assessment by gathering a wide range of opinions and policy research from the second half of this year so that it can encourage qualitative leap forward of universities and win-win growth,” the minister said.

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