KOREA: Top universities get state research funds

The government has announced a list of universities whose research projects will be funded to support their international competitiveness, reports Korea Times. Eighteen universities will benefit from the World Class University project that will finance 52 research initiatives proposed by the institutions, said the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.

The selection is expected to draw strong protest from universities that failed to make the list.
A total of 830 billion won (US$0.6 billion) will be awarded over the next five years. Even among the selected schools the gap is wide. Seoul National University will get 32 billion won, KAIST 16 billion won, while some will receive less than 1 billion won. The universities plan to establish new departments and recruit internationally renowned scholars.

"We will additionally choose more universities for 20 billion won, earmarked for universities out of the capital, as many universities in local provinces failed to meet standards of the project," said Lee Yong-hak, a ministry official. Fifty-two universities submitted a total of 314 research plans and the project committee, comprising domestic and overseas professors, evaluated each university's proposals.
Full report on the Korea Times site