On February 21, an article by Chosun Ilbo reported possible plans for a KAIST-centered merger of the four national research universities in Korea: Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Gwangju Institute of Science of Technology (GIST), and Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST). Furthermore, on February 25, a conference was held between the Ministry of Science and ICT and representatives from the four national research universities regarding the formation of a joint administrative bureau. A representative from the ministry stated that “the joint bureau is planned to be located in the KAIST campus and will be operational by July.”

The proposed joint bureau may be responsible for overseeing the use of joint facilities between the universities, coordinating overlap in research projects, and deciding each university’s area of focus in research projects. An official from the Ministry of Science and ICT expressed, “With multiple national research universities founded for similar purposes, various problems arise such as inefficient budget expenditure and repeated research projects. The establishment of the joint bureau is an effort to review the operation of national research universities.”

In response to this article, the KAIST Emergency Response Committee, Rise, arranged a meeting with the KAIST Planning Team. During this meeting, the KAIST Planning Team stated that “the discussion regarding the joint bureau was initiated from the results of the National Assembly’s annual audit and the inefficient operation of the four national research universities. The ongoing discussion is not about the potential merger of the four national research universities, but rather the synergy effect that can be gained from their collaboration.” Further statements added that “the aforementioned joint bureau’s role has not yet been fixed, but it is expected to be utilized for managing efficient expenditure of budget and approaching issues common to all of Korea’s national research universities. The discussion of a potential merger is not in the scope of the conference being held on the February 25 and the merger is a complex issue that will require much more discussion.”

However, from the results of the conference on February 25, a memorandum of understanding establishing the joint bureau was confirmed between the four national research universities. The joint bureau aims to expand the collaboration between the four research universities and enhance the quality of the institutions by enabling the shared use of research equipment. The main goals of the joint bureau include policymaking and policy refinement to improve the competitiveness of the national research universities, the coordination of issues common to all national research universities, the management of the joint use of research equipment, the appraisal of the overlapping research areas between universities and the discovery of key research areas, and the organization of possible collaboration with other institutes of technology.