An analysis by the Korean Educational Development Institute found that indicators for recruiting new students and university size improved or contracted immediately after university mergers.
However, the effects of reducing faculty and departments did not last long, and differences were also substantial depending on the merger method.
It is necessary to examine whether simply combining university names into one resolves the operational problems of regional universities.
3-Line Summary
1. The admission competition rate and enrollment rate rose after the merger
2. The enrollment quota fell by 457 students, and the number of enrolled students fell by 827
3. It is difficult to assess performance based solely on a reduction in departments
Admission Recruitment Indicators Improved Immediately After the Merger
On September 22, the Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI) published a report titled “What Did University Mergers Change?” Of the 37 mergers identified from 2000 through 2026, the researchers analyzed 27 for which data were available to compare conditions before and after the merger.
The analysis found that the admission competition rate rose by 1.66 immediately after the merger, while the rate of new-student enrollment rose by 2.51% points. The number of international students also increased by approximately 99 immediately after the merger, and an upward trend continued afterward. The researchers interpreted this as meaning that university mergers produced a certain improvement in competitiveness for recruiting students and attracting international students.
The universities’ external scale also contracted. Immediately after the merger, the admission quota per university fell by approximately 457 students, while the number of enrolled students fell by approximately 827. Of the goals of the university-merger policy—responding to the decline in the school-age population—the reduction in enrollment quotas was relatively clearly confirmed in numerical terms.
The Reductions of 130 Non-Tenure-Track Faculty Members and 11 Departments Did Not Continue
By contrast, the effect of reducing internal organizations was short-term. Immediately after the merger, the number of non-tenure-track faculty members fell by approximately 130 and the number of departments fell by an average of approximately 11, but afterward, the number of non-tenure-track faculty members increased again by 20.8 per year, the number of staff by 5.5, and the number of departments by 0.7 per year. The number of tenure-track faculty members also continued to increase both before and after the merger.
These figures cannot be immediately regarded as evidence of merger failure. If the number of faculty members increases while the number of enrolled students declines, the number of students per faculty member decreases, potentially improving educational conditions. The increase in new departments may also have resulted from expanding fields of study in response to social and technological changes.
However, unless one also examines how the organization was operated after the merger, it is difficult to say that operational efficiency improved based solely on the fact that the university became smaller. The key issue identified by the researchers was not the reduction in enrollment quotas itself, but whether duplicate departments were actually reorganized, administration and finances integrated, and the functions of each campus restructured.
Why Did Mergers That Retained Campuses Produce Different Results?
Unified mergers, which combine existing university organizations into one, produced relatively clear effects in terms of higher competition rates, fewer enrollment quotas and enrolled students, and a reduction in departments. By contrast, dual-structure mergers, which integrate only the universities while retaining the existing campuses, produced relatively weaker restructuring effects of this kind.
National and public universities experienced smaller decreases in enrollment quotas and enrolled students than private universities, while the number of departments also tended to increase. The explanation is that when local communities demand that campuses remain and issues concerning the employment status of university members are involved, it is difficult to adjust personnel and departments quickly.
The merger proposal involving Chungnam National University and Kongju National University was rejected in a September 10 referendum among Chungnam National University members. The two universities plan to continue discussions about a merger, but this does not yet mean that a merger has been finalized. The Ministry of Education also maintains that the merger has not been derailed solely because the referendum was rejected.
The success of university mergers is likely to be determined less by how many universities have disappeared than by what kind of education students receive and how the two campuses divide their roles. The reduction in enrollment quotas visible in the numbers and the changes within the universities did not proceed at the same pace.
References
Tags #KoreaUniversityNews #UniversityMergers #UniversityRestructuring #KoreanEducationalDevelopmentInstitute #KEDI #RegionalUniversities #DecliningSchoolAgePopulation #UniversityEnrollmentQuotas #NewStudentEnrollmentRate #AdmissionCompetitionRate #NationalUniversityMergers #ChungnamNationalUniversity #KongjuNationalUniversity #GlocalUniversities #CampusIntegration