Korea's long-established university hierarchy, commonly referred to as "SKY-SSH-CKHS" (Seoul National, Yonsei, Korea - Seogang, Sungkyunkwan, Hanyang - Chung-Ang, Kyung Hee, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, University of Seoul), is poised for significant change as the government unveils plans to inject 1.5 trillion won into three regional flagship national universities over the next five years.
Education Minister Choi Kyo-jin disclosed detailed policies for the so-called "10 Seoul National Universities Plan" on the 15th of this month, stating, "We will enable the three regional flagship national universities to enter the QS world top 200 by subject in specialized fields by 2030." The selection of the three regional flagship national universities is expected to be completed as early as the third quarter of this year.
Meanwhile, major private universities, which are struggling to secure budgets due to tuition regulations, are seething with frustration, complaining of "regulations without support." These universities are working to secure funding through strategies such as establishing industry-academia cooperative research institutes, encouraging alumni donations, and attracting international students. However, clear limitations remain given their continued high dependence on tuition revenue. In fact, tuition accounts for more than 40% of the budgets at four of the five major private universities in Seoul: Korea University (42.8%), Sungkyunkwan University (43.8%), Hanyang University (54.8%), and Sogang University (63.5%). Only Yonsei University (36.3%) falls below that threshold.
According to an analysis by The Seoul Economic Daily on the 20th of per-student education expenditures at nine major private universities in Seoul (Yonsei, Korea, Sogang, Sungkyunkwan, Hanyang, Chung-Ang, Kyung Hee, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, and Ewha Womans) based on data disclosed on "University Notifier," Yonsei University ranked first at 39.65 million won, followed by Korea University (33.15 million won), Sungkyunkwan University (32.42 million won), Hanyang University (27.92 million won), Ewha Womans University (22.61 million won), Sogang University (20.29 million won), Kyung Hee University (18.79 million won), Chung-Ang University (18.53 million won), and Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (12.70 million won). These figures show a meaningful correlation between the university hierarchy referenced by the admissions industry and the ranking of per-student education expenditures.
However, this per-student education expenditure ranking tends to disadvantage universities with weaker competitiveness in science and engineering fields. Per-student education expenditure is calculated by dividing school accounting, industry-academia cooperation foundation accounting, book purchase costs, and equipment purchase costs by the total number of students. Since the industry-academia cooperation foundation accounting accounts for a large portion, universities with strong science and engineering competitiveness generally have higher per-student education expenditures. For this reason, universities with relatively weaker engineering competitiveness inevitably have lower per-student education expenditures than their reputations might suggest. Indeed, among the nine universities, Yonsei University had the largest industry-academia cooperation foundation accounting budget at 446.7 billion won, followed by Korea University (418.4 billion won), Sungkyunkwan University (372.8 billion won), and Hanyang University (275.3 billion won).
Based solely on per-student education expenditures, Korea's university hierarchy is expected to undergo significant change within five years. Under the government's policy, it is virtually certain that the three regional flagship national universities will surpass major private universities in Seoul in per-student education expenditure metrics by 2030. The government plans to raise per-student education expenditure at the three regional flagship national universities to 44 million won by 2030 as part of its regional talent development scheme. As of 2024, the average per-student education expenditure at regional flagship national universities stood at 25.4 million won, less than half that of Seoul National University (63.02 million won). By 2030, however, it will rise to about 70% of Seoul National University's level, making it easier to attract top students. As a result, these universities' admissions results are also expected to rise significantly.
In addition, the government plans to expand contract-based departments linked to employment, such as semiconductor departments, at regional flagship national universities. If these three universities newly attract such departments, further improvements in admissions results are expected. Amid the semiconductor boom and large-scale performance bonus payouts at SK hynix (000660.KS) and Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), the admissions industry is calling for "semiconductor departments" to be added to the top-tier admissions departments traditionally represented by "medicine, dentistry, oriental medicine, pharmacy, and veterinary medicine."
Major private universities have little choice but to sigh at the situation. It is not easy to raise per-student education expenditures amid various regulations such as tuition frozen for about 15 years and government budget allocations focused on balanced regional development.
The formidable "alumni power" of these universities also has limited impact on securing budgets. Korea University, which had the largest donation revenue among the nine private universities, brought in 86.7 billion won, accounting for a single-digit share (9.7%) of total revenue. Yonsei University's donation revenue actually decreased from 74.6 billion won to 69.2 billion won (6.0%) year-on-year. Donation revenue accounted for only around 3% of the total budget at other universities: Sungkyunkwan University (22.7 billion won), Ewha Womans University (18.6 billion won), Hanyang University (16.0 billion won), Kyung Hee University (11.6 billion won), Sogang University (8.4 billion won), Chung-Ang University (7.3 billion won), and Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (5.4 billion won).
Due to government regulations on tuition hikes and difficulties in securing budgets, per-student education expenditures at Yonsei University and Sogang University actually declined year-on-year. Yonsei University's per-student education expenditure fell from 40.83 million won in 2023 to 39.65 million won the following year, while Sogang University's declined from 20.36 million won to 20.29 million won over the same period. Based solely on per-student education expenditure figures, a reversal in rankings between major universities in Seoul and regional flagship national universities does not appear to be far off.
In this regard, some in private university circles point out that regional balanced development is being prioritized in higher education policy, while "excellence" in education is being neglected. "With 154 of Korea's 189 general universities being private, the government should recognize the role of private universities while providing bold support measures comparable to those for regional flagship national universities for individual departments at a few highly competitive universities," an official at a private university said. "As the government tightens regulations by capping tuition increases at 'within 1.2 times the consumer price inflation rate of the past three years,' it would seem reasonable to increase financial support as compensation, but there appears to be no policy consideration along those lines."
