The government is starting the "build 10 Seoul National Universities" initiative next year. It decided to support more than 3 trillion won in funding to foster universities for balanced national growth.
The Ministry of Education said on the 3rd that its 2026 budget was finalized at 106.3607 trillion won. This is the "largest ever" based on the ministry's budget and is up 3.6% (3.7171 trillion won) from this year's budget (102.6437 trillion won, including the extra budget). It also increased by 94.5 billion won during the National Assembly's review compared with the original government proposal.
A total of 314.48 billion won will be invested to foster universities for balanced national growth. In particular, 885.5 billion won will be invested so that flagship national universities can innovate undergraduate education and leap into world-class research universities centered on fields linked to regional strategic industries. This is the project known as "building 10 Seoul National Universities." A total of 2.1403 trillion won was allocated to the Regional Innovation-led University Support System (RISE) project, in which universities and regions collaborate to carry out tasks such as nurturing talent.
A total of 334.8 billion won was allocated to train state-responsible artificial intelligence (AI) talent and support science and engineering education. Of that, 128.8 billion won will be used to expand AI boot camps and nurture AI talent at AI hub universities. In addition, 833.1 billion won will be invested to push integrated early childhood education and care, and 3.6635 trillion won will be provided for infant and toddler care fees. During the National Assembly review, new funding of 870 million won was allocated to survey private education expenses for young children, along with measures to improve the treatment of childcare faculty and staff and increased support for tailored national scholarships.
Meanwhile, the distribution structure of the education tax will also change starting next year. Funds that were previously split between the general account and the special account for early childhood education support will be integrated with the enactment of the "Special Account Act for Infants and Young Children." Sixty percent of the education tax, excluding the portion from the finance and insurance sector, will be taken as revenue.
The special account for higher and lifelong education support, which was set to sunset this year, has been extended for five years until the end of Dec. 2030. Starting next year, the revenue budget for the education tax imposed and collected from finance and insurance business operators under the Education Tax Act will become revenue for the special account, and the size of the special account is also expected to grow.