University Presidents’ Association to Discuss with Ministry of Education
Recently, presidents of major national universities have agreed that “a tuition increase is unavoidable this year,” and they have decided to request preliminary discussions with the Ministry of Education. This indicates that the idea of increasing tuition is gaining traction even among national universities. Among private universities, Sogang University and Kookmin University have recently decided on increase plans, and other major universities in Seoul are also proposing increases of 4-5%. Consequently, it’s expected that decisions on tuition hikes across university campuses will continue within this month.
On the 3rd, a president of a national university who participated in a video conference of the National University Presidents’ Association said, “There was a consensus that this year, we must increase tuition up to the legal limit (5.49%) at each university.” He added, “However, since it is difficult for national universities to unilaterally oppose the government’s policy of freezing tuition, we decided to quickly arrange a preliminary meeting to persuade officials from the Ministry of Education about the necessity of the increase.” The association is a group formed by presidents of 10 national universities nationwide. While Seoul National University has decided to freeze tuition again this year, other regional national universities are experiencing significant financial pressure and demand for increases. It is analyzed that the leadership of the government, which has strongly enforced a freeze policy, has weakened since the December 3 Emergency Martial Law, influencing the tuition increase discourse. However, another national university president clarified, “The actual decision on whether to increase will be made based on discussions with the Ministry of Education and the results of internal tuition deliberation committees.”