Gyeongnam Provincial Council Opposes Increasing Enrollment Quotas for Semiconductor Departments in the Seoul Metropolitan Area

Education Committee Adopts Proposal for Government Recommendations Within the Education Committee

Chairman Park Byung-young of the Education Committee, Gyeongnam Provincial Council.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Song Jong-gu] On the 19th, Park Byeong-young, Chair of the Education Committee of the Gyeongnam Provincial Council, adopted a government petition titled “Opposition to the Increase of Admission Quotas for Semiconductor Departments in the Seoul Metropolitan Area” within the Education Committee during the 3rd Education Committee meeting of the 397th extraordinary session. This was in opposition to the Ministry of Education’s recent move to expand admission quotas for semiconductor departments in the Seoul metropolitan area.

Currently, the Ministry of Education is considering expanding admission quotas for advanced departments such as semiconductors, mainly in universities located in the Seoul metropolitan area. However, regional universities are experiencing a decrease in departments and continuous under-enrollment due to a declining school-age population. Expanding about 4,000 admission quotas in Seoul metropolitan universities would accelerate the concentration in the metropolitan area and lead to the collapse of regional universities.

At present, the Capital Region Readjustment Planning Act and its enforcement decree limit the admission quotas of universities in the Seoul metropolitan area to prevent this concentration, but revisions to this law are also under consideration.

As controversy over the legal amendment arose, on the 15th, the Ministry of Science and ICT announced that it would promote a (tentatively named) contract quota system, which temporarily increases the quotas of existing semiconductor departments, in consultation with the Ministry of Education.

Chairman Park stated, “Semiconductor experts believe that undergraduate-level workforce training can be sufficiently conducted at regional universities,” adding, “To suppress the phenomenon of regional extinction through job creation and enable balanced national development, workforce training related to advanced industries such as semiconductors must be primarily promoted at regional universities so that both the Seoul metropolitan area and non-metropolitan areas can coexist and develop together.”

He continued, “On the 7th, the Regional University Presidents’ Council, composed of presidents from 127 universities across seven non-metropolitan regions, held a meeting with Education Minister Park Soon-ae and conveyed their opposition to the increase of admission quotas for semiconductor departments in Seoul metropolitan universities,” adding, “The Gyeongsangnam-do Provincial Council also proposed this petition in the Education Committee to support the voices opposing the Ministry of Education’s expansion of semiconductor department quotas in the metropolitan area, to prevent regional extinction, and to urge balanced regional development.”

Meanwhile, if this petition proposed by the Education Committee is approved at the 2nd plenary session of the 397th extraordinary session on the 26th, it will be delivered to the President, the Speaker of the National Assembly, and relevant central government ministries.