The president responsible for the failure of integration was also taken care of… Controversy over Glocal project cost performance bonus banquet

(Cheongju = Yonhap News) Reporter Cheon Gyeong-hwan = It has been pointed out that the purpose of the Ministry of Education's 'Glocal University' project has deviated from the essence of university innovation and community development and has degenerated into a 'performance pay banquet' for faculty and staff.

According to People Power Party lawmaker Park Jeong-hoon, a member of the National Assembly Education Committee, on the 24th, it was confirmed that former Chungbuk National University President Koh Chang-seop, who resigned from his position after taking responsibility for the failure of the merger with Korea National University of Transportation, received performance bonuses from Glocal University project expenses after returning to his position as a professor two months after his resignation.

In addition to former President Goh, Chungbuk National University paid a total of 590 million won in incentives to 194 students in 2025 and 97 in 2026 using Glocal University project funds even though it received a D grade in the Glocal University performance evaluation for two consecutive years.

In particular, in the process of reviewing and deciding on incentive payments, key officials such as the Director of Planning and the Head of Planning Department were involved in decision-making, and it was confirmed that many of them were included in the incentive payments.

It is pointed out that controversy is expected over the appropriateness and fairness of the execution of project funds for glocal universities, as large incentives are paid to universities that received low ratings in performance evaluations and beneficiaries are directly involved in the deliberation process.

Representative Park said, “The glocal university project is a project that invests national finances to strengthen the university’s innovation capabilities and promote shared growth with the local community.” He added, “Legal incentives can be paid to members who contributed to the project, but it must be based on objective performance evaluation, reasonable payment standards, and fair deliberation and decision procedures.”

In addition, Rep. Park pointed out the issue of budget allocation transparency related to Chungbuk National University's 'World Class Specialized Department Project', while also raising concerns about poor execution as the current glocal project cost recovery regulations are only discretionary rather than mandatory.

Glocal University is a project to select 30 universities outside the metropolitan area that will build a new growth model through innovation by 2027 and provide 100 billion won per university over 5 years.

Chungbuk National University and National University of Transportation were designated as glocal universities on the premise of physical integration, but the designation was canceled after receiving the lowest grade of 'D' for two consecutive times in a performance evaluation due to poor integration progress.

As the integration is aborted, the process of recovering government subsidies received in this regard is expected to begin in 2023.