Education minister casts classrooms as answer to AI upheaval, balanced national development

Education Minister Choi Kyo-jin holds a press briefing marking his first 100 days in office at Government Complex Sejong, Monday. Courtesy of Ministry of Education

With classrooms emptying in provincial towns and employers warning of widening skills shortages, Education Minister Choi Kyo-jin said at a briefing Monday that Korea’s education system had become a frontline response to the country’s deeper national and regional structural problems. These include demographic decline and the hollowing out of areas beyond the capital.

While the ministry identified priorities like fostering democratic citizenship and bolstering regional universities, it made no reference to policies concerning international students.

At a briefing marking his first 100 days in office, Choi said Korea as a whole — and its regions in particular — was entering a period of profound change and crisis.

“The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping the type of talent society demands, while the crisis of regional depopulation is calling for a fundamentally new role for education policy,” he said.

“Even amid these changes, what must not be forgotten is the core of education. Above all, it is essential to provide education that enables students to grow into democratic citizens.”

Emphasizing the need to prepare students to take responsibility for social issues and participate actively as democratic citizens, Choi said that reinforcing the fundamentals of education would be the central focus of next year’s policy agenda.

To that end, the ministry will emphasize discussion- and debate-based classes that link subject-specific knowledge with real-world social issues, while working to publicize and institutionalize these learning principles.

Choi added that the government is seeking to pass related legislation to place civic education on a more stable policy footing and that it planned to expand and reorganize the relevant department within the education ministry beginning next year.

He also stressed the importance of strengthening students’ critical thinking skills and cultivating a balanced set of competencies, calling for comprehensive instruction in areas such as elections, the Constitution, media, culture, economics and labor. The initiatives, he added, will be pursued through close interministerial cooperation to ensure substantive and effective implementation.

As another priority for addressing national change and the crisis of regional depopulation, Choi pointed to strengthening regional universities as a pillar of balanced national development.

“Enhancing the competitiveness of regional universities is essential to creating a virtuous cycle in which students study in their local communities, grow into talent needed by the region and ultimately settle there,” he said.

In line with this goal, the ministry plans to invest 885.5 billion won ($597 million) this year — double last year’s budget — to improve the quality of research at national flagship universities, with total funding expected to exceed 4 trillion won over the next five years. It also plans to actively support universities’ efforts to generate their own revenue, including through industry-academia cooperation.

With those supports in place, the ministry said it expected to expand global programs aimed at giving students foundational skills in artificial intelligence, while broadening opportunities for exchanges with overseas universities and internships at foreign companies.

In addition, the ministry said it will back innovation and structural reforms at capable private regional universities, expanding financial support to allow institutions to concentrate resources on their areas of strength and pursue specialization through restructuring departments and overhauling curricula.

Although attracting international students and global talent, such as through the Study Korea 300K Project, has been promoted as a government priority, no detailed policies related to international students were outlined at the briefing.