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Busan Metropolitan City Mobilizes Full Efforts for Final Selection as 2025 Glocal University… Launch of Integrated Marine University to Propel Global Marine Hub City Initiative

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Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon) announced that today (25th) at 5 p.m., it will host the “Glocal University Vision and Innovation Strategy Briefing Session” at Meeting Room 214–215, Exhibition Hall 1 of BEXCO, led by the Mayor himself, in support of Korea Maritime & Ocean University's final designation as a glocal university.

This is the first such briefing among the three Busan universities preliminarily designated as glocal universities (Korea Maritime & Ocean University, Kyungsung University, and Busan University of Foreign Studies), and it has been organized to review and discuss the vision and strategic agenda ahead of the final evaluation in August.

Governor Kim Yung-rok of Jeollanam-do, the presidents of Korea Maritime & Ocean University and Mokpo National Maritime University, representatives from the marine industry, and related institutions will be in attendance.

The focus will be on in-depth discussion of strategic directions for co-prosperity in the southern marine industry centered around the Yeongho-nam region (Busan–Jeonnam), aiming to enhance the feasibility of the integrated university becoming a driving force for economic growth in the southern region. The city, Jeollanam-do, and the two universities will sign an MOU to establish a joint implementation system and comprehensive cooperation.

The Integrated Marine University (Korea Maritime & Ocean University and Mokpo National Maritime University) envisions becoming the “one and only national maritime university driving GO-K (Great Ocean-Korea).” It will promote nine strategic initiatives in three key areas, including full university integration (by 2027), academic convergence, expansion of marine high-tech fields, and campus specialization, with the Busan campus serving as the main campus.

• 1.Through the integration of the two universities, it will expand into high-tech marine fields and establish regionally specialized campuses linked to strategic local industries to cultivate talent for the “super-regional” marine industry.

• ○(Busan) Advanced maritime, future mobility, digital tech, marine business hub

• ○(Jeollanam-do) Eco-friendly ships, offshore wind, data, marine accident prevention and response

• 2.It will complete a full-cycle talent development system connecting high schools, universities, and businesses, training field-ready professionals through “rapid employment” programs for general high school students and “early employment” programs for marine and fisheries vocational high schools.

• 3.It will foster commercialization and globalization of high value-added marine technologies by establishing test-bed campuses, founding joint graduate schools, and building an innovation cooperation cluster among local government, industry, academia, and research institutes.

The city plans to actively provide administrative and financial support to ensure that all three preliminarily designated universities are ultimately selected as glocal universities. Briefings for the other two universities, Kyungsung University and Busan University of Foreign Studies, will be held on August 1, chaired by the Mayor.

To help local talent remain in the region and find employment, the city will attract businesses, research institutes, and innovation organizations through the creation of specialized industrial complexes and expansion of regulatory special zones. Comprehensive measures will also be implemented to improve conditions for young people in terms of housing, welfare, and culture.

As this year marks the final round of glocal university designations, the city has set a goal of achieving the highest number of selections. Since last year, it has actively supported the innovation planning phase through workshops and other efforts, resulting in three Busan universities being preliminarily designated this year.

To ensure final selection, the city has launched a Glocal University Support Group in collaboration with the preliminarily designated universities, industry, and regional innovation institutions to develop support plans for specialized industrial sectors. It has also formed joint writing teams with universities to collaboratively establish implementation plans through task discovery and planning.

The “Glocal University” initiative aims to promote mutual growth between regions and universities by strengthening ties with local communities and industries. The Ministry of Education has designated 30 non-metropolitan universities as glocal universities from 2023 to 2025, providing KRW 100 billion in funding over five years.

In May this year, the Ministry of Education evaluated innovation plans from universities and preliminarily designated 18 universities nationwide, including the following three from Busan:

• ●Korea Maritime & Ocean University – Mokpo National Maritime University (joint integration)

• ●Kyungsung University (independent)

• ●Busan University of Foreign Studies (independent)

Preliminarily designated universities must submit detailed implementation plans by August 11, and the Ministry of Education will evaluate them to select around ten final universities in September.

Mayor Park stated, “Additional glocal university designations will create synergy with the existing ones and lay the foundation for attracting innovative talent to drive regional development. We will nurture these universities to compete with prestigious international institutions and create leading cases of regional-university co-growth to help Busan become a global hub city.”

He also added, “If the integrated maritime university model is finally designated in September by the Ministry of Education as a glocal university, it is expected to grow into a globally recognized specialized maritime base university and create synergy with the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries’ relocation to Busan, thereby propelling the city to become a true leader in the global marine industry.”