PNU’s Academic Restructuring Amid Budget Uncertainty
As government education funding becomes increasingly conditional and competitive, PNU responds by cutting department sizes to expand undeclared major programs despite faculty resistance.
To launch a new Undeclared Major system for the upcoming academic year, Pusan National University (PNU) has reduced student quotas across multiple departments. With one in five freshmen expected to enter without a declared major, this shift marks a major transformation in PNU’s academic structure. However, cuts in government financial support are expected to pose additional challenges.
According to a summarized coverage of “Channel PNU” on May 9th, 2025, PNU officially announced on May 1st, 2025, an amendment to school regulations that includes the reduction of departmental quotas and the creation of the Undeclared Major. Starting in 2026, quotas for 75 departments will be reduced by at least one and up to 17 students each. Based on these adjustments, 179 students will be admitted into the new Undeclared Major in 2026.
During the adjustment process, some departments—particularly small ones—strongly opposed the reductions. The College of Humanities negotiated a reduction from two to one student each in five departments (Dept. of Korean Language and Literature, Dept. of Russian Language and Literature, Dept. of Korean Literature in Classical Chinese, Dept. of Language and Information, Dept. of Philosophy). Initially, PNU planned to reduce the quotas of most departments by 6% in order to secure enrollment for the Undeclared Major. According to this plan, all departments—except Healthcare, Medical, Education (Teacher Training), Arts & Physical Education, and small departments with fewer than 25 students—were required to cut at least two students from their quotas. However, due to the structural difficulties already faced by the basic academic disciplines, there was strong opposition to the quota reductions.
Since March 2025, the College of Humanities has submitted multiple formal objections. At the Academic Committee on March 20th, 2025, Prof. Jeong Il-Kyung (Vice Chairman, Faculty Council) said, “We cannot accept the likely result of expanding STEM fields while shrinking the foundations of humanities. It is especially hard to accept that new engineering departments protected by national policy are exempt from reductions.” Yoon Seok-Ho (Prof. of History, PNU) added, “While I understand the academic intent, I cannot support a reform based on sacrificing specific departments.” After extensive discussion, the adjustment plan was approved on April 17th, 2025.
Under the new regulations, students with an Undeclared Major will be allowed to declare any major except Healthcare, Medical, Education (Teacher Training), Arts & Physical Education, and small departments with fewer than 25 students. Lee Hae-Jun (Prof. of Electrical Engineering, PNU), Dean of Academic Affairs, explained, “We are designing the system to allow at least 20% of students to switch majors, with final details to be announced in mid-May.” In 2025, 139 students have already been admitted through the Type II Undeclared Major Program including Engineering Undeclared Major, Nano Undeclared Major, and Global Open Major. That number will rise to 581 in 2026. Including the Type I Undeclared Major Program, a total of 760 students—about 20% of the total incoming batch—will enter PNU with undeclared majors.
However, the expansion of this undeclared major system brings new challenges to the infrastructure. On April 30th, 2025, Vice Chairman Jeong noted, “There is currently only one full-time faculty member for the Undergraduate College, and administrative staff is also insufficient.” Dean Lee responded that the current discussions are limited to quota adjustments, and additional support will be reviewed later.
■ Budget Implications of the Undeclared Major
PNU’s push for expanding its interdisciplinary program is closely tied to government funding. In 2024, the Ministry of Education (MOE) announced via the “National University Development Project” that it would award bonus points and financial incentives to universities that increase the percentage of students admitted through undeclared major programs to 25%. Dean Lee explained, “In 2024, our 5% increase in such programs had a negative effect on our project evaluation. This year, we’ve raised it to around 20%.”
Still, PNU received the second-lowest funding among the nine major national flagship universities in 2024. With a “B” rating from the MOE in the National University Development Project, PNU was allocated approximately 23.3 billion won. In contrast, Kyungpook National University, which earned an “S” rating, secured 30.3 billion won—roughly 7 billion won more.
PNU attributes part of this disparity to changes in the Ministry’s evaluation methods. Since 2024, the weight of quantitative evaluation has been reduced from 60% to 40%, while qualitative assessment has increased to 60%. Quantitative metrics include student enrollment and per-student education costs, while qualitative factors consider educational system reform, curriculum flexibility, and major selection autonomy. Since the additional points awarded based on the implementation performance of the major selection autonomic system took a greater influence, the absence of Type I and II undeclared major programs at PNU in 2024 negatively impacted its score. Starting in 2026, universities with two consecutive “S” ratings will receive over 30% more in funding, which is expected to widen the funding gap.
A more pressing concern is that the total budget for the National University Development Project has been reduced, meaning that even universities receiving the highest rating may be allocated less funding than they secured this year. This has heightened concerns at PNU, which relies on the project’s funding to cover essential operating costs, including utility bills. According to the “2025 National University Development Project Basic Plan,” MOE has drastically reduced the total budget from 572.2 billion won last year to 424.3 billion won in 2025. According to the Division of Finance and Accounting, PNU uses this funding not only for student support programs but also for covering public utility expenses such as electricity and water.
Kim Eun-Young (Associate Director, Office of Financial Strategy), said, “The budget cuts may lead to inconvenience for students and faculty. We’re concerned because we even use this budget to pay utility bills, and now it’s being reduced.” Dean Lee stated, “If we endure this without taking action, the gap between PNU and others will only widen further. Thus, we are responding by setting more ambitious targets.”
Some critics argue that MOE is implementing the development project in a way that strays from its original intent. Kim Hun-Ho (Prof. of Education, Kongju National University) stated, “The project has become a task-based initiative that rewards universities for meeting certain government goals. But financial support should not be conditional on following the minister’s or administration’s agenda. Instead, we should consider a model like Seoul National University (SNU)’s corporatization to ensure better performance management.”
Reporter Lee Bo-Young, Hwang Ju-Won
Translated by Thadar-Soe