KU selected for the Advanced Industry-Academia Cooperation LINC+ project
 

The Ministry of Education and the National Research Foundation of Korea announce the 99 selected universities that will share KRW 320 billion

55 universities selected for the Advanced Industry-Academia Cooperation sector and 44 junior colleges selected for the Socially-Customized Department sector

Screening panel recruited for the first time for this financial support Project to improve professionalism and fairness

Korea University was selected as an Advanced Industry-Academia Cooperation University for the Socially-Customized Leaders in Industry-University Cooperation (LINC+) project. 

The Ministry of Education and the National Research Foundation of Korea have recently announced the selected universities for the LINC+ project. A total of 55 universities, including KU, were selected as Advanced Industry-Academia Cooperation Universities.

The LINC+ project is a university financial support project, which is an integration of the follow-up to the Cultivation of Leaders in Industry-

University Cooperation (LINC) project that has been promoted since 2012, and the newly established Socially-Customized Department Vitalization project. This is a large-scale financial support project with an estimated budget of KRW 327 billion.

KU is expected to receive a support fund of a total of 22.8 billion won, starting with 3.24 billion won in the first year, and 4.9 billion won each year from the second to the fifth year. 

Schools were selected from five regions (Seoul-metropolitan areas, Chungcheong, Honam-Jeju, Daegyeong-Gangwon, and Dongnam) for two different sectors: Advanced Industry-Academia Cooperation (55 universities) and Socially-Customized Department (44 junior colleges).

The selection process of Advanced Industry-Academia Cooperation Universities went through three stages: First, evaluation of formula; second, evaluation of project plan (by region, nationwide); and finally, deliberation and confirmation by the project management committee. In the evaluation of formula stage, 104 universities (approximately double the quota) were selected first based on their basic industry-academia cooperation competence scores calculated using eight relevant indicators. Through the document evaluation, a total of 78 universities (16 for each region, except for Honam-Jeju which had 14 universities) were selected. In the qualitative evaluation (documents and interviews) by region, a total of 50 universities (10 from each region) were selected, and five universities were added through a nationwide qualitative evaluation.

Universities selected for the LINC+ project will play a leading role in local innovation, such as cultivation of excellent manpower, creation of jobs, and revitalization of business support and entrepreneurship, based on close cooperation with local industries and local communities. In particular, a number of universities have proposed a cultivation of manpower in preparation for the upcoming fourth industrial revolution, improved university competitiveness, and strengthened ties with businesses and local communities, and we can expect their active leadership for future development of Korea.

An official from the Ministry of Education said, “As a result of granting autonomy to universities, a variety of industry-academia cooperation models were presented nationwide. We will actively support universities so that their industry-academia cooperation models can continuously facilitate excellent achievements and contribute to the development of local communities.”