1st National Assembly Futures Forum Successfully Held by the National Assembly Futures Institute (NAFI)
Crisis of Local Extinction and Alternatives: Future of Local Universities
Kim Hyeon-kon, President of the National Assembly Futures Institute (NAFI) announced that the 1st National Assembly Futures Forum was successfully held at the Marina Convention Center, Yeouido, Seoul on April 22, which was cohosted by the Standing Committees (Education Committee, Public Administration and Security Committee & Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee) and member research groups (National Assembly Forum for Response to Low Birth, Citizen Future Forum & National Reconstruction Forum).
Park Byeong-seok, Speaker of the National Assembly, stated that this “crisis of local universities and local extinction is not an issue that the Ministry of Education can solve alone; it is necessary to overcome this problem by taking comprehensive measures in terms of higher education, regional innovation and balanced national development”, emphasizing the role of the National Assembly in his written opening address.
At the forum, comprehensive approach was made to discuss on higher and lifelong educations, local economy, innovation, balanced development, and quality of life, especially focusing on “alternatives in future”, in consideration of recent decline in the youth population of statutory eligible age group, which causes local universities to be far short of it full quota and abolished one after another and also affects the local extinction.
Prof. Kim Yeong-jin (Law Department of Daejeon University) gave a presentation on the topic of “Crisis of Local Universities: Current Status and Future” to diagnose the current situation and causes of the local area and to suggest a solution centered on fostering local universities.
It was followed by a presentation of Yi So-Yeong, Chief of the Center in the Korea Research Institute for Local Administration, regarding “Future Strategy of Local Universities in Response to Crisis of Local Extinction”, in which a convergence strategy for local universities was proposed with review on the local crisis caused by population decline and domestic and abroad measures to prevent local extinction.
Panelists of the discussion to explore the crisis of local extinction and solutions included Kim Sang-mi, Officer of the Economic Analysis Department, National Assembly Budget Office; Yi Deok-nan, National Assembly Researcher of the National Assembly Research Service; Kim Yu-bean, NAFI’s Researcher Fellow; Seo Yeong-yin, Chief at Office of Higher Education Research, Korean Educational Development Institute; Chae Chang-gyun, Senior Research Fellow of the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training; Kim Seok-jung, Head of Research Headquarters, Research Institute for Gangwon, with Kang Hyun-soo (President of the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements) as a moderator.
“We had meaningful presentations and discussions on local universities, balanced development, population structure, education policy, vocational training, local innovation, and local economy at this forum,” said NAFI President Kim. “NAFI will continue to conduct subsequent researches on follow-up plans so that our discussions will be directed to actual policies.”
Meanwhile, NAFI will host the forum on a quarterly basis, as an event where members of the National Assembly, agencies under the National Assembly, party officials and other stakeholders jointly seek solutions for major future issues.
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