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On February 5, 2024, Associate Professor Ha Dong Hyun and Researcher Kim Su Yong from Jeonbuk National University (JNU), Institute for Conflict Management and Local Innovation, visited the Matsumoto campus. The purpose of the visit was to hear about Shinshu University's initiative to raise local human resources and exchange opinions with faculty members on university contributions to the local community. On SU side, Vice President Yasuto Hayashi (Enrollment Management) and Associate Professor Ryuta Oba (International Academic Research Support) of the Research Administration Office were the hosts.

Since 2013, under the framework of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) for promoting regional development, SU has continued to establish education programs for developing human resources who can play an active role in the region for its sustainable development, in collaboration with local governments and businesses in Nagano Prefecture. In these years, such SU’s efforts have received extremely high reputations, regularly ranked in the top of the "National Survey on University Contribution to the Local Community" by Nikkei Inc. (No. 1 among national universities in Japan in the latest survey results for FY 2022), and its image as a highly contributing university to the local community is gaining ground.

JNU is located in Jeonju City in the southwestern part of South Korea. In these years, as the birthrate declines, the population ages, and disparities between regions widen in South Korea, regional development is discussed as an important political matter and there are high expectations for the role of regional universities in fostering and producing human resources who will play a leading role in this situation.

This year, JNU has been selected as one of the "Glocal University 30”, a project subsidized by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea, which aims to promote innovation at local universities through industry-academia-government collaboration and to develop them in tandem with local communities. Recognizing SU’s efforts as an important reference case for the promotion of this program, they were enthusiastically hearing from SU for about two hours.

SU and JNU are partner universities under a MoU. During the visit, the participants actively exchanged opinions on future international academic exchanges as well.