Changwon Special City Designated as First Pilot Area for Education Development Zone... "Launching Talent Development for the Next 50 Years"

Annual Special Grants of 3 to 10 Billion KRW and Related Special Support

Changwon Special City in Gyeongnam has been designated as the first pilot area for the Education Development Special Zone in preparation for nurturing talent for the next 50 years.

According to the Ministry of Education's announcement on the 28th, five districts involving eight cities and counties in the province, including smart manufacturing (Changwon), aerospace (Jinju, Sacheon, Goseong), nano (Miryang), future shipbuilding (Geoje), and automobile & biomedical (Gimhae, Yangsan), have been designated as Gyeongnam Province's future talent nurturing Education Development Special Zones.

So far, the city has been fully committed to three major projects for nurturing Changwon-type innovative talent: designation of the Education Development Special Zone, selection of glocal universities, and establishment of a medical school, to overcome population decline and regional extinction caused by youth outflow and to lay the foundation for innovative growth.

As a result, the city, local education offices, universities, companies, and public institutions have cooperated to be designated as the first pilot area of the Education Development Special Zone for future talent in 2024. The city will receive special grants ranging from 3 to 10 billion KRW annually and related special measures, and will operate as a ‘Smart Manufacturing Education Development Special Zone’ for three years to establish a customized functional workforce training system tailored to regional strategies and specialized industries.

Related special measures will be applied to regulations identified as needing improvement according to specialized models and operational plans established based on regional characteristics and areas of interest.

The Smart Manufacturing Education Development Special Zone, reflecting the region’s characteristics as the largest domestic cluster in machinery and defense sectors, will strengthen educational support and recruitment linkage for industrial skilled workforce training between vocational high schools and companies.

Furthermore, the city aims to develop and operate the ‘Changwon-type Education Development Special Zone’ that integrates talent nurturing, employment, and settlement into one, reflecting local conditions and the needs of actual users.

Changwon Special City Mayor Hong Nampyo's on-site visit to Korean NSK company on May 24, last year.

In addition to the existing smart manufacturing sector, the city will add the smart logistics sector, where demand for high value-added jobs is expected to increase, such as at Jinhae New Port. By identifying and operating new industrial sectors based on the demands of vocational high schools, universities, and companies, the city will lay the groundwork for expanding future generation jobs.

Moreover, the city plans to systematically establish a company-customized workforce training model by supporting industry-academia-government cooperation systems and education-employment linkage programs, thereby inducing regional settlement through the creation of quality jobs.

Meanwhile, Changwon has 34.2 elementary care institutions per 10,000 children aged 6 to 11, which is lower than the national average of 41.2, indicating a somewhat insufficient social care system.

To compensate for this, and to prevent population decline and regional extinction caused by difficulties in education and care, as well as to secure excellent future talent, the city will cooperate with the Gyeongnam Office of Education from a long-term perspective on establishing hub-type care centers, dedicating efforts to complete the Changwon-type Education Development Special Zone that connects ‘Neulbom (Evergreen) - Education - Employment - Settlement.’

Hong Nam-pyo, Mayor of Changwon Special City, said, “I welcome the designation of the Education Development Special Zone, the first step toward nurturing Changwon-type innovative talent that will lead innovative growth for the next 50 years.” He added, “We will focus administrative power on operating the Changwon-type Education Development Special Zone so that talent born and raised in Changwon can continue to settle in the region, making it an educational innovation model that leads regional development.”