Busan is accelerating efforts to build a mega-regional talent development system spanning Busan, Ulsan and South Gyeongsang Province (Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam), moving preemptively in response to the Ministry of Education's restructuring plan for the Regional Innovation System & Education (RISE) program. The city is now in the stage of designing a "region-rooted talent circulation structure" that ties together universities, industry and settlement.
Busan said Monday it will hold the "Southeastern Region Growth Talent Development Working-Level Meeting" at the Ramada Encore Busan Station Hotel on the 17th. The meeting is aimed at concretizing a joint Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam response strategy in line with the introduction of the "Area-based Nurturing and Cultivation of Human resources for Regional growth (ANCHOR)," the Education Ministry's restructured RISE model.
ANCHOR is an integrated policy model designed to establish a virtuous cycle connecting university enrollment, employment and regional settlement. Its core aim is to ease the concentration of resources in the Seoul metropolitan area by strengthening the "anchor" function that roots talent in the regions.
The meeting will bring together working-level officials from the three governments of Busan, Ulsan and Gyeongnam, along with dedicated agencies, to review the mega-regional cooperation structure. Each local government plans to coordinate role-sharing and budget-matching arrangements and prepare a joint response to government-funded projects slated for the second half of the year.
The focus of discussions will be building a "shared higher education ecosystem." Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam will pursue a "joint campus" model that breaks down boundaries between universities and enables shared use of resources. In connection with the "Creating 10 Seoul National Universities" policy, the strategy is to divide roles between national and private universities centered on flagship national universities, strengthening cooperation rather than competition.
The initiative also focuses on industry-linked talent development. A large-scale consortium will be formed linking companies, universities and research institutes around the region's core industries — including future mobility, aerospace, shipbuilding and marine, hydrogen, and defense — to jointly respond to government-funded projects.
Governance will also be strengthened to secure momentum. Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam plans to review the establishment of a "Mega-Regional Anchor Center" and a committee to build a system that jointly drives everything from policy planning to project execution.
Busan said it will use these discussions to flesh out a mega-regional economic zone roadmap combining education, industry and settlement. "Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam, as one team, will build a flexible cooperation model that organically connects and expands each region's strengths, making it a representative case that leads the nation's future balanced development," Busan Mayor Park Heong-jun said.
