2025 KCUE General Meeting

□ The Korean Council for University Education (KCUE) held its regular General Meeting on Wednesday, January 22 at the Westin Chosun Seoul in Jung-gu, Seoul.

 

□ The meeting was attended by the presidents of 136 of the 197 four-year universities in Korea to discuss and vote on the 2024 performance and accounting reports and the 2025 business plans and budget.

 

□ Park Sang-Gue, Chairman of KCUE, said: "We experienced many ups and downs last year, including the medical school admission quota and the introduction of a Self-Directed Major Selection system, in addition to existing issues such as university finances and the plummeting school-age population." He also said: "I would like to express my deep gratitude to the presidents who have provided their keen insights to help universities navigate through these challenges and have facilitated communication with KCUE." And he added: "For a future-oriented higher education, KCUE has sought to secure a higher education budget that is above the OECD average, successfully establish the RISE system, build a university-local government cooperation system, and pursue regulatory reform to enhance the autonomy of universities and diversify their revenue sources. To this end, we listened to the councils of university presidents, representing different types, regions, and functional areas, as well as the presidents of many member universities. Based on this input, we were able to make policy and legislative proposals in cooperation with the government and the National Assembly.“

 

□ At the General Meeting, KCUE organized a separate session to discuss the current issues in higher education, where the results of the activities of the University-Regional Innovation Task Force and the results of the study on higher education development and medium- to long-term financial plan were reported. Renowned external speakers were invited for the afternoon session. Dr. Jaeho Yeom, President of Taejae University and Vice Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Artificial Intelligence, gave a lecture on the future of higher education in the age of AI. And Ju Hyeong-hwan, Vice Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Aging Society and Population Policy, spoke about policies to respond to the low birth rate and aging society and ways to cooperate with universities. These presentations were followed by a question and answer session.

 

□ The final session of the General Meeting was a dialogue with Lee Joo-ho, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, to discuss current issues facing public and private universities and make policy suggestions.