The Korean Council of University Education, which represents private university presidents, has come out against the government's plan to offer full scholarships to incoming students at regional national universities, warning the move "could threaten the survival of regional private universities."
The council issued a statement Monday saying the Ministry of Education's plan amounted to "de facto free tuition at national universities" and called it "a discriminatory, unreasonable and anachronistic idea toward private universities." It said the plan raises "serious concerns" as it "could undermine equity among students and erode the foundation for fair competition among regional universities."
The council said the problem would be especially acute ahead of the 2027 academic year's early admissions cycle, warning that if regional national universities use full scholarships as a recruitment tool, private universities in those areas would face even greater difficulty attracting students.
"If free tuition at national universities becomes a reality, regional private universities will struggle to survive — and the government could end up inadvertently accelerating regional depopulation," the council said, calling on the government to halt policies that deepen the financial imbalance between national and private universities.
The council also called for equivalent support for private universities, which it said are responsible for more than 80 percent of higher education, arguing that genuine regional revitalization requires investment in private universities' education and research infrastructure.
It further argued that local education subsidy funds expected to grow on the back of a semiconductor industry boom should be channeled into developing AI talent and expanding education and research capacity at regional private universities.
The council criticized the current government's higher education policy as excessively skewed toward national universities — including the so-called "create 10 Seoul National Universities" initiative. It warned that concentrating additional support on national universities would widen an already significant gap in tuition, scholarships and per-student spending between national and private institutions.
According to the council's higher education statistics, average tuition at non-metropolitan national and public universities last year stood at roughly 54 percent of the level charged by private universities in the same regions. The scholarship-to-tuition ratio per enrolled student in 2024 was 79.1 percent at national and public universities outside the greater Seoul area, compared with 58.6 percent at non-metropolitan private universities. Per-student education spending at non-metropolitan national universities was also about 56 percent higher than at their private counterparts in the same regions.
The Ministry of Education outlined the plan in its second-half 2026 work report presented to President Lee Jae Myung on Wednesday, saying it is reviewing a proposal to provide full scholarships to students entering any of 30 regional national universities nationwide starting next year.
brunch@heraldcorp.com
