Enhancing the Effectiveness of Policies to Overcome the Crisis of Provincial Universities: Focusing on the Application of System Dynamics on Factors Affecting the Competitiveness of Provincial Universities

Enhancing the Effectiveness of Policies to Overcome the Crisis of Provincial Universities: Focusing on the Application of System Dynamics on Factors Affecting the Competitiveness of Provincial Universities

(Purpose) The pain of local communities and provincial universities is deepening in a challenging environment characterized by population decline, the impending crisis of regional extinction, and the decrease in university entrance resources. Changes in population structure, which are now inevitable, are expected to profoundly affect various sectors such as education, economy, regional development, labor market, industrial structure, and welfare system. Only those provincial universities that adapt to these changing circumstances and overcome their fears will survive. This study aims to identify optimal and effective solutions for provincial universities facing challenges such as decreased entrance resources and changing educational environments. (Design/methodology/approach) This research has analyzed the direction of policies to overcome the crisis of provincial universities based on the opinions of experts, including the planning director, academic affairs director, industry-academic cooperation director, and other officials of provincial universities, using system dynamics (Findings) When considering the relationships of factors included in the causal diagram that influence the enhancement of the competitiveness of regional universities, a feedback loop was identified. (Research implications or Originality) Based on the analysis, we've proposed solutions for provincial universities to overcome their crises, including: (1) continuous expansion of the higher education budget, (2) revision of the Local Education Finance Subsidy Law to expand financial support for provincial universities, (3) improvements in the university financial support project, (4) mergers and closures of universities, (5) improvements in attracting and managing foreign students, (6) revisions of the special admissions system, (7) nurturing convergent talents, (8) improvements in hiring regional talents in public institutions, (9) tuition support for local university students by local governments, and (10) introduction of special education zones as a central policy.