SNU Uncommitted to Relocation
By Do Je-hae
Staff Reporter
One of the essential changes to the revised Sejong City plan announced Monday is the establishment of a new education hub, to be made possible by the partial relocation of some of the country's most respected universities and research institutes.
The revisions also include the opening of around 20 private or public secondary schools, including a foreign language high school by 2011, a science high school by 2012 and a secondary school for the performing arts by 2013. At least one international high school will be built by 2013, targeting children of foreign scientists and businessmen, the authorities said.
The new education facilities are crucial for the creation of a prospective "international science and business belt" in South Chuncheong Province, located about 150 kilometers south of Seoul.
"Sejong is ideally situated in the central part of the country, and is geographically close to Daedeok Innopolis, home to the nation's top science and technology research institutions and universities in Daejeon," said Kim Jung-hyun, vice minister of education, science and technology, said Monday.
Seoul's ultimate aim is to transform the formerly underdeveloped Chungcheog area into a science and business hub for basic and applied sciences, research and development (R&D) and high-tech industries, according to the ministry.
The move is expected to gain momentum as some of the most prestigious institutions of higher education have openly committed to building new campuses there, in line with the government initiative to build a "center of education, science and business" rather than a separate administrative capital as originally intended by the previous Roh Moo-hyun administration.
Seoul National University (SNU) ― the No. 1 school in Korea and 47th in the world university rankings for 2009 by Time magazine ― may be distancing itself from its formerly tentative stance on creating a Sejong campus.
"We will form a task force to study relocation and produce a draft proposal sometime this month," a top administrator with SNU told Yonhap.
"A sizable state fund will be directed for the education hub project, boosting research capacities for universities that become a part of Sejong."
SNU is currently pursuing additional campuses in Gyeonggi and Gangwon provinces, but a possible relocation to Sejong will not cause additional budgetary strains for its ongoing expansion plan, an SNU official added.
A report from the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritimes Affairs confirmed that SNU is undergoing internal discussions for a campus plan in Sejong.
The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), the top tech-only university in Daejeon, said it is sticking to its initial plan of creating a second campus in the new city.
Korea University in Seoul will also construct a new campus in the city, relocating its post-graduate schools of natural science and engineering.
Other major universities based in Seoul ― Yonsei, Hanyang, Seogang and Ewha ― are still hesitant about expanding their facilities there, due to budgetary constraints and existing expansion projects.