Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok said he welcomed academia's efforts to strengthen local universities' competitiveness during the 2025 Korea Times Global Conference on Wednesday.

Under the theme of "Beyond Borders: Strengthening Global Competitiveness of Korean Universities," the conference discussed various challenges facing Korean universities, as they grapple with shrinking domestic student populations due to declining birthrates, making the influx of international students increasingly important.

Kim said the country's universities have the potential to overcome these challenges.

"Korea's soft power is tremendous," he said during his congratulatory speech via video during the conference held at the Grand Hall of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry building in Seoul.

"Our soft power is a strong platform to strengthen their (universities') global competitiveness. And the government will do whatever it takes to help their needs."

The prime minister added that many universities have already launched various partnership programs with local governments and companies to enhance their research and development capabilities while also improving the quality of the education that they offer.

The government has also begun subsidizing university exchange programs with foreign colleges, while actively supporting efforts to accommodate international students in Korea.

During the conference, scholars discussed various measures to overcome pressing challenges and explored strategies to boost the global competitiveness of higher education in Korea.

The first panel discussion, moderated by Byun Ki-young, director of Korea University's Higher Education Policy Research Institute, went over various strategies to attract and support international students.

Panelists included Shin Mee-kyung, director of the Education Globalization Division at the Ministry of Education; Yang Jae-wan, dean of the Korean Association of Foreign Student Administrators; Shim Hwa-young, CEO of Hire Diversity; and Robert Kelly, professor of political science at Pusan National University.

The second session discussed how to empower international students and create career pathways in Korea. Jung Min-chul, a partner of Samil PwC, led the discussion and featured Kim Han-sung, vice president for international affairs at Hanyang University; Jaha Zoda, CEO of BNC Global; and Ocean Yang, CEO of Careertus.

PM welcomes academia's efforts to strengthen universities' competitiveness - The Korea Times