‘It’s really all about survival’: Korean mergers reshape system

South Korea’s latest wave of university mergers reflects how its higher education system is increasingly being driven by institutional survival rather than policy priorities, academics say. 

Presidential decrees approved last month formalised three major integrations of public universities, as the government seeks to maintain at least one national university in each province.

Under the plan, Kangwon National University will absorb Gangneung-Wonju National University to form a single institution with an admission quota of about 6,100 students, the largest among national universities.

In South Jeolla Province, Mokpo National University and Jeonnam Provincial University will merge to become Mokpo University. In South Gyeongsang Province, Changwon National University will integrate with two provincial colleges in Geochang and Namhae.

The consolidated universities began operating on 1 March, the start of South Korea’s academic year.

Education minister Choi Kyo-jin said the integrations would help universities “strengthen competitiveness and respond to regional population decline”.

The reforms come as South Korea’s student-age population continues to shrink. The number of incoming first-year students has fallen to about 298,000, far below the estimated 450,000 to 500,000 university places nationwide.

Since 2000, 22 colleges and universities have closed as a result of sustained enrolment shortages and financial strain.

Theodore Jun Yoo, professor of Korean language and literature at Yonsei University, said the restructuring reflects the “biggest transformation” of South Korea’s university sector since the 1950s.

The government is aiming to boost nine regional universities to the level of Seoul National University but Yoo said demographic decline rather than policy ambition was the underlying driver of many of the changes.

“The fertility rate is very low and the country’s student-age population is collapsing…the government’s solution is consolidation through mergers, shared governance, and regional specialisation, designed to keep institutions alive. I’m not sure it’s going to work given how things are still very Seoul-centred,” Yoo said.

Changhee Kim, assistant professor of sustainable HRM at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, said the demographic crisis has placed intense pressure on regional universities.

“From what I can see, the pressure on academics in South Korea, especially at universities outside Seoul, is immense,” Kim said. “It’s really all about survival.”

“With the student population shrinking so rapidly, many universities are in crisis (particularly in suburban and regional areas) and this financial pressure trickles down directly to the professors,” Kim said.

He added that the funding system has created what he described as a “survival of the fittest” environment across parts of the sector, encouraged by the government’s policy of basing funding on enrolment numbers.

Pressure to further consolidate is likely to intensify. According to a survey by the Korean Council for University Education, university presidents expect more than 30 universities to close within the next decade, most of them located outside the Greater Seoul area.

Despite the reforms, Yoo questioned whether consolidation alone would address the longstanding concentration of students in the capital.

“Under the new RISE [Regional Innovation System & Education] project, local governments are becoming co-investors rather than passive stakeholders. The model encourages ‘hub-and-spoke’ networks in which merged campuses focus on distinct strengths...again, I have my doubts as everyone still congregates in Seoul.

“Students at top regional universities worry about ‘diploma dilution’, faculty face complex administrative integrations and hybrid models combining academic and vocational tracks are reshaping how degrees are structured. You need good students, and Korea’s immigration policies are not prepared for the arrival of large numbers of foreign students either,” Yoo said.

tash.mosheim@timeshighereducation.com