The Only Report Issued by the First National Education Commission: "Higher Education Innovation Report"

'Harvard: 7.8 trillion won, Stanford: 10 trillion won, University of Tokyo: 2.9 trillion won... Seoul National University: 1 trillion won... Chonbuk National University: 300 billion won.'

These are the budget sizes of major universities around the world and in South Korea. When it comes to university finances, which are only about one-tenth the size of their overseas counterparts, the government's stingy investment is often cited as a persistent issue. Most domestic universities rely heavily on tuition fees for their revenue, but the number of incoming students-which is directly linked to revenue-has decreased by 28,000 over the past decade, and tuition has remained frozen for 17 consecutive years since 2009. University officials point out that with such tight budgets, it is almost impossible to invest in research, talent development, or facilities.

The National Education Commission, which serves as the control tower for education in South Korea, recently published the "Higher Education Innovation Report" at the conclusion of its first term, addressing these challenges and tasks facing Korean higher education. This is the only printed report released by the first-term commission, following the resignation of former chairperson Lee Baeyong, who had been reluctant to publish book-format reports.

The commission's Higher Education Innovation Team included in the report recommendations such as "securing higher education funding of at least 1% of GDP to expand investment in university talent and to fully innovate the higher education system so it can proactively respond to future societal changes." According to the report, South Korea's public education expenditure per university student in 2020 was $12,225, which is only 67.5% of the OECD average of $18,105. Compared to world-class universities, the budgets of domestic universities are severely lacking. The innovation team analyzed that it is necessary to replace outdated facilities and equipment and to secure outstanding human resources, but that this is not possible with the current budget. They concluded that it is necessary to expand higher education funding to 1% of GDP, which is the OECD average.

To secure higher education funding equivalent to 1% of GDP, an additional 10 trillion won would be needed as of last year. Projecting the higher education budget for the next 10 years, assuming an annual increase of 0.1 percentage points from 2026, the innovation team forecast that the target of 1% of GDP could be reached by 2029. Specifically, they projected that the higher education budget would increase by 19.4 trillion won in 2026, 23 trillion won in 2027, 27 trillion won in 2028, and 31.2 trillion won in 2029. To achieve this, the team suggested securing funds based on a fixed percentage of domestic taxes or corporate taxes, as well as expanding the current higher education budget and the special account for higher education.

The innovation team believes that if additional higher education funding is secured, it can be distributed in stages, taking into account the type of funding (basic support, project support), type of institution (national universities, private universities), and target of support (education and facilities, research infrastructure).