As universities outside Seoul struggle, PNU leverages Busan's unique characteristics

Pusan National University is positioning itself for growth by focusing on the strengths of Busan, such as marine climate technology, food tech and defense, to attract students and industries. We spoke with President Choi Jae-weon to learn more.

Pusan National University President Choi Jae-weon speaks during an interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily at the university's campus in Geumjeong District, Busan. [PARK SANG-MOON]

Located in a prominent port city with a rich history as Korea’s first national university, Pusan National University (PNU) sees huge potential in many fields.

The university has long been at the forefront of academic and technological development, particularly in mechanical engineering. However, with a declining student population and many students preferring Seoul, the university is venturing into new fields where it can lead, especially with the help of Busan's unique characteristics.

“We are in the process of merging with Busan National University of Education, and we aim to become a university that specializes in areas where Busan has strengths,” said Choi Jae-weon, president of Pusan National University.

“We want Pusan National University to be a leader in fields that align with the city’s geographical characteristics and industry demands, such as marine climate technology, food tech and defense.”

Choi believes the university's focus on these fields will attract companies to the city and create job opportunities for students. The new School of Global Liberal Studies, which will open in the spring semester of 2025 as an international student-only program, also focuses on preparing students for jobs in fields the city specializes in.

The Korea JoongAng Daily sat down with Choi for an interview at the university campus in Geumjeong District, Busan, to discuss the university’s strategic direction.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Pusan National University students conduct research at the university lab [PUSAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY]

Universities outside greater Seoul are struggling. What would be a solution for national universities? Attending the Association of Pacific Rim Universities president meeting in June, I had the chance to talk to presidents of University of California schools, and each campus had fields they specialized in. If a certain campus focuses on a specific field, other campuses do not specialize in those areas. Similarly, I agree with the one national university per province model proposed by the government. I think it is the groundwork for national universities to each focus on a field they can specialize in.

For Pusan National University, what are the areas it aims to focus on? We found a few niche industries, one of which is ocean climate technologies. We have a professor specializing in climate physics and ocean science, and because having an ocean is crucial for research, he's previously been at a university in Hawaii and is now at ours. So, I believe Busan can become a leading player in the industry. We also hope to build an international ocean climate tech certification center at the university, which will help create a global standard for ocean climate technologies.

Food tech is another area. Take the case of Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The city has a lot of similarities with Busan, with its port serving as a gateway to 200 ports around the world. Agricultural and fisheries products are shipped from all over Europe and processed there, which is a big business. Busan also has a huge potential market for this, with some even saying it's a 1,000 trillion won [$750 billion] market. But we're missing out on the opportunity by just focusing on loading and unloading cargo and trucking. It would be best if we could build an entire system that covers production, processing, storage, shipment, logistics and marketing of agricultural and fisheries products.

Automotive chips are another area where there is demand from companies like Hyundai Mobis and Renault. Regarding defense, companies like Hanwha Aerospace are reaching out to Pusan National University, with our school focusing on R&D.

International students participate in Pusan National University's summer school in July [PUSAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY]

Attracting more international students is also a key agenda for many universities. What efforts has the university been making in that sense? Starting in March next year, we are going to open the School of Global Liberal Studies, an international student-only department that focuses on helping students establish their own businesses or get jobs in Korea. It will admit around 50 students per semester, so about 100 annually. The department will offer an interdisciplinary Pentomino curriculum, an open major program that prepares students to get jobs or start their own business in industries that Busan specializes in. There will be an industry-academia track that helps students participate in internships, career-training programs, receive job consultations and attend job fairs. The research track will help students later go to graduate school and become researchers.

We will also emphasize Korean language education to encourage students to get jobs or start their businesses and settle in the region. Such classes will be focused on the freshman year, but students will continue to take them through their sophomore to senior years. We also plan on providing programs that encourage international students to stay after graduation. We plan to bring the job fair for international students, hosted by the Korea Trade-Investment Agency, to the southeastern area and co-host it with Busan Metropolitan City. Korean language training and company tours to local hidden champions are among the other things planned.

Students study at Pusan National University’s PNU Saebyeokbeol Library [PUSAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY]

What’s your opinion on globalization? I ask myself, what is globalization, and why do we need to globalize? There are many indicators that assess how global a university is, but it's a very consuming concept. Ranking organizations create indicators based on the world’s best universities, whether it's about having good professors, good students, a lot of people wanting to go to the university, being financially stable, having a long history, having a university hospital and more.

We have international students from 92 countries. Except for countries like China and Vietnam, it’s mostly one student per country. Having students of diverse nationalities is also a form of globalization, but we put in a lot of resources to achieve that. Leading universities may not be as focused on such indicators even if they receive low scores for the globalization criterion. They may think it's better to have fewer students, while focusing on the quality of international students or aiming to take better care of them. Those universities can follow their own path, and Pusan National University also needs fields where we can be in the major leagues if we want to independently follow our own path.

The university announced it will merge with Busan National University of Education. How is that going? We plan to have Busan National University of Education's Yeonje campus focused on education, and we are making campus restructuring plans. Our goal is to train highly-qualified teachers using our experience as a comprehensive university. We also plan to host edutech-related research centers and think tanks on the campus.

━ President's bio

Choi Jae-weon is the 22nd president of Pusan National University. His four-year term started on May 17 this year.

Choi served as the dean of Pusan National University's College of Engineering from 2022 to 2023 and the university's dean of planning from 2013 to 2014. He has taught at the university's College of Engineering since 1996, and also taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a visiting professor between 2003 and 2004. Choi also served as the president of The Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems in 2023.

He received his bachelor's degree in control and instrumentation engineering from Seoul National University, along with a master's and Ph.D. in the same field, also from Seoul National University.

Name Pusan National University

Type National

Established May 15, 1946

English slogan Arise PNU Higher, Together

Location Busan campus: Geumjeong District, Busan Yangsan campus: Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Miryang campus: Miryang, South Gyeongsang Ami campus: Seo District, Busan

Undergraduate colleges and departments Colleges: 15 Schools and departments: 95

Graduate schools 13 Students (2023) Undergraduates: 19,759 Postgraduates: 7,367 Total: 27,126

Academic staff (2023) 1,239

Employment rate (2023) 61.1%

English website www.pusan.ac.kr/eng/

International students

Number of students (2024) Undergraduates: 549 Postgraduates: 645 Short-term students (language learning, exchange program, etc): 599 Total: 1,793

By country (2024) China 36.5% Vietnam 5.7% Kazakhstan 5.7% Myanmar 4.3%

Department with the most international students (2024) College of Business

Dorm-to-international student ratio (2024) 36.2%

Average tuition of self-funded undergraduate students per semester (2023-2~2024-1) 2.25 million won

Website international.pusan.ac.kr

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]