Education Ministry: "Chungnam-Kongju merger is not over"...Funding to be cut by half if deadline passes

[Financial News] Although a proposal to merge Chungnam National University with Kongju National University was rejected in a vote among Chungnam National University members, the Ministry of Education said it would be difficult to view the result as the failure of the merger. However, if the two universities fail to submit a merger application to the Ministry of Education by December 31, funding under the 30 Glocal Institutions Initiative will be cut by half. If the application is delayed further, the project funds could also be recovered.
According to the Ministry of Education on the 14th, Chungnam National University and Kongju National University held an online vote on the merger among their members from the 8th to the 10th. At Chungnam National University, however, support for the merger failed to exceed 50%.
At Kongju National University, a majority of all three groups supported the merger: 71.56% of faculty members, 62.34% of staff and teaching assistants, and 59.98% of students. At Chungnam National University, 46.58% voted in favor and 53.42% against, leaving support 3.42 percentage points short of a majority. Opposition was particularly strong among undergraduate students, reaching 90.71%, while 67.29% of staff and teaching assistants also voted against the proposal.
Lee Ju-hee, a university support officer at the Ministry of Education, said, "The yes-or-no vote was an opinion-gathering procedure established by the universities. The fact that the proposal was rejected in this vote does not mean that the merger has immediately fallen through." Lee added, "After checking with both universities, we confirmed that they remain committed to pursuing the merger."
The two universities had previously agreed that they would not submit a merger plan to the Ministry of Education if either university failed to secure more than 50% support in its members’ vote on the merger proposal.
The merger’s uncertain status has also raised concerns about the 30 Glocal Institutions Initiative, under which the two universities were selected last September on the premise that they would merge.
The first year of the Glocal Institutions project runs through October 21. If the universities fail to submit a merger application during this period, they could receive a D grade in the evaluation for the second year.
Lee said, "Because Chungnam National University and Kongju National University signed an agreement with the Ministry of Education on December 31 last year, they must submit a merger application by December 31 this year."
If the two universities fail to submit a merger application by the end of the year, 50% of the total funding will be cut. If they still fail to submit the application within the additional 60-day period, the agreement could be terminated and the total project budget could be recovered.
The specific amount to be recovered has not yet been determined. A Ministry of Education director said, "The amount to be recovered will likely have to be determined through a detailed settlement," adding, "It is difficult to predict the situation and comment on the other projects."
Nine cases have been selected as merger models under the Ministry of Education’s Glocal Institutions project, and five of them have already completed their mergers. Andong National University and Gyeongbuk Provincial College launched as Gyeongguk National University, while Kangwon National University and Gangneung–Wonju National University launched as an integrated Kangwon National University.
Cases that have not yet completed their mergers include Chungbuk National University and Korea National University of Transportation. The Ministry of Education said the two universities are also independently resuming discussions on a merger.
Chungnam National University plans to gather additional opinions from its members through next month and revise the merger proposal.
The Chungnam National University deans’ council also issued a statement that day, criticizing the university administration for insufficient communication and calling for the merger process to be restarted. The council said, "The method of integration can be discussed again in any number of ways, but we must not abandon the need for integration itself." It called for a comprehensive review of the issues identified in the merger application and the preparation of a revised proposal reflecting the opinions of university members.

[email protected] Lee Bo-mi Reporter