Chungnam Governor Park Soo-hyun sat down with presidents and deans of universities within the province to discuss ways for mutual growth and development.

Governor Park held a meeting titled “Chungnam Where Regions and Universities Communicate for Mutual Growth and Development” with 25 university presidents and deans at Hoseo University’s Asan Campus on the 20th.

This meeting was organized for the first time since the launch of the 9th popular election to explore ways for regional-university mutual growth amid the common crises of a declining school-age population and regional extinction.

The meeting followed a format where the province shared the direction of its regional university support policies, followed by a free-flowing conversation between Governor Park and the university heads over a boxed lunch.

At the gathering, Governor Park explained, “Chungnam is promoting 'Three-Power Innovation'—consisting of power, hydro, and human resources—for an 'Artificial Intelligence (AI) Capital Chungnam,' and the most urgent among these is human resources development.” He added, “While Chungnam has abundant power and can secure water somehow, talent to lead cutting-edge industries cannot be nurtured overnight.”

He continued, “Just as talent cultivation must stay a step ahead for large-scale investments like mega-projects to bear fruit, I ask for your help in fostering the talent that will lead the AI Capital Chungnam.”

Governor Park attributed the recent achievement of Chungnam being selected as the top local government nationwide for two consecutive years in the Ministry of Education’s Anchor Project (Regional Growth Talent Training System) evaluation—the only provincial-level government to do so—to the universities.

Expressing his gratitude, he said, “Thanks to the presidents and deans who have built the 'Chungnam-style contracted department' and 'regional settlement model' together, our province was selected as the top Anchor Project for two consecutive years, followed by the selection for the 'Ultra-wide Growth Engine Talent Training' contest project last month.”

He then asked for the opinions of the presidents and deans on ways to connect the Anchor Project performance incentives to regional and university growth, saying, “I hope you will share good opinions so that this can lead to greater results in the field.”

The attending presidents and deans shared the difficulties faced by universities due to the declining school-age population, while presenting various opinions on cooperation measures between regions and universities for talent cultivation linked to regional industries and the regional settlement of graduates.

Based on the opinions from the university field gathered on this day, the province plans to finalize and announce specific utilization plans as soon as the scale of the Ministry of Education's performance incentives is finally confirmed.

Concluding the meeting, Governor Park stated, “We will create a 'Chungnam where universities, businesses, and regions communicate' so that talent nurtured in universities can lead corporate growth and put down roots in the region.”

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