Colleges to propose department mergers and reorganizations... Jeju National University to provide 750 million won in targeted support

【Financial News, Jeju = Reporter Jeong Yong-bok】 Jeju National University is inviting its colleges to propose initiatives such as establishing or merging departments, providing corporate hiring-linked education, and securing research projects, and will provide a total of 750 million won in targeted support to up to three colleges. Rather than having the university administration decide the direction of innovation across the board, the approach allows colleges to design projects and receive allocated funding.
According to Jeju National University on the 27th, it has announced the Innovation-Leading Colleges Support Program to strengthen the university’s competitiveness and is accepting applications through November 13.
Eligible applicants are the university’s 15 colleges and graduate schools that do not operate undergraduate programs. Following a review, the university plans to select up to three colleges and provide a total of 750 million won. The project will run from December through February 2028.
This is Jeju National University’s own innovation initiative, funded through the Ministry of Education’s National University Development Project. Unlike previous support centered on the university administration or equal allocations to each college, the initiative will select colleges that propose innovative projects and concentrate funding on them.
The call covers education, industry-academia collaboration, and strengthening research capabilities. In education, applicants may propose restructuring departments, including establishing, merging, abolishing, or separating academic units. Industry-academia collaboration includes introducing contract-based departments that operate curricula on the condition of corporate hiring, as well as contract-based enrollment quotas.
In research, colleges may develop initiatives to secure commissioned research projects from the government, local governments, and companies, and to strengthen research capabilities. They may also propose projects outside the areas listed in the call, depending on each college’s characteristics.
The initiative also reflects a nationwide trend toward reshaping the educational and research functions of regional national universities in response to a declining school-age population and changes in the industrial structure.
This year, the Ministry of Education is supporting innovation at flagship national universities and the strengthening of their research capabilities through the National University Development Project. Within this funding framework, Jeju National University has opted to concentrate support on innovation projects proposed by colleges rather than distribute funds across the university as a whole.
Whether the workforce needs of companies in Jeju can be incorporated into curricula and the university’s research capabilities connected with local industries is also a point of interest.
Jeju National University plans to decide on the final recipients of support after preliminary selections and revisions to project plans in November. The selected colleges will sign performance agreements with President Yang Deok-soon in December and begin work on their innovation projects.
The university plans to guarantee colleges autonomy in budgeting and spending project funds within the limits allowed by the guidelines for the National University Development Project.
Jeju National University President Yang Deok-soon said, “This project is a new innovation model in which colleges design their own future competitiveness, while the university concentrates support on the resources they need in response to those changes,” adding, “We will extend the results of college-led innovation across the entire university.”
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