University 'Gyojigijunmyeonjeok' Abolished... University Establishment and Operation Regulation Amendment Approved at Cabinet Meeting

Operation Possible with Only Building Act Requirements
Campus Mergers and Closures Allowed Without Reducing Capacity
Conditions for Campus Relocation Also Relaxed

The regulations for university establishment and operation will be revised in response to environmental changes such as the reduction of admission quotas and the expansion of remote education. The criteria for university campus land area will be abolished or relaxed so that universities can operate without maintaining large-scale campuses as before. Additionally, conditions for university campus relocation and mergers or consolidations between universities will be eased to facilitate structural adjustments.

On the 12th, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Lee Ju-ho announced at the Cabinet meeting that the partial amendment ordinance of the "Regulations on University Establishment and Operation" was reviewed and approved.

First, the criteria for university campus land area will be abolished. Currently, universities with student quotas between 401 and 999 must secure campus land corresponding to the standard building area, and those with quotas of 1,000 or more must secure at least twice the standard building area. Going forward, in response to environmental changes such as the expansion of remote education, campus land will only need to meet the requirements of building-related laws, such as building coverage ratio and floor area ratio, and separate campus land area criteria will be eliminated.

Following trends such as remote classes and resource sharing between universities, the standard building area per student for natural sciences, engineering, arts and physical education, and medical fields will be relaxed from the current 17?20㎡ to 14㎡. The current standard building area per student for humanities and social sciences is 12㎡. Also, while maintaining the standard for the number of students per faculty member, the allowable ratio of adjunct and invited faculty at general universities will be expanded from one-fifth to one-third.

Universities were previously required to secure basic property for profit-use equivalent to the university corporation’s "annual total operating revenue of the school account," but from now on, they only need to secure an amount equivalent to the "annual tuition and income."

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The plan also includes measures to promote voluntary structural reform by universities. The condition that admission quotas must be uniformly reduced during mergers or consolidations between universities will be removed, allowing mergers or consolidations if the rates of securing buildings, faculty, and basic property for profit-use are maintained at or above the previous year’s levels. Furthermore, the scope of mergers and consolidations will be expanded to include specialized universities and non-metropolitan cyber universities.

The previous condition that required securing 100% or more of campus land and buildings to relocate a university campus will be removed, allowing relocation as long as the newly established campus meets facility conditions. Also, if the building securing rate is fully met at 100% or maintained at or above the previous year’s level, student quota transfers will be permitted.

Conditions for establishing graduate schools will also be eased. When adjusting student quotas between undergraduate and graduate schools, the requirements for undergraduate enrollment rates and reductions in undergraduate quotas will be abolished. When establishing doctoral programs, the criteria for faculty research achievements will be removed. Additionally, when establishing professional graduate schools, faculty securing standards will be relaxed to the level of general graduate schools, and faculty and facilities from other undergraduate departments can be jointly utilized.

Deputy Prime Minister Lee said, "Through the revision of the 'Regulations on University Establishment and Operation,' we hope universities can actively respond to demographic decline and digital transformation as societal and era changes." He added, "The Ministry of Education will continue to actively identify and reform regulations that hinder universities’ autonomous innovation."