On the 25th, Wonju City signed a multilateral memorandum of understanding with the Office of Education, local universities, specialized institutions, and the local community to secure designation as an “Education Innovation Pioneer Region” under the Ministry of Education’s initiative. The agreement includes the city, the Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province Office of Education, the Wonju Office of Education, Kangwon National University’s Wonju Campus, Kyungdong University’s Medical Campus, Sangji University, Yonsei University’s Future Campus, Halla University, the National Gangwon Science Museum, the Wonju Medical Device Industry Promotion Foundation, the Wonju Future Industry Promotion Foundation, and the Gilteo Social Cooperative—for a total of 12 institutions and organizations.
The agreement was established to enable participating institutions to jointly respond to the Ministry of Education’s call for proposals for “Leading Regions for Educational Innovation” and to build a unique educational innovation model for Wonju by consolidating the region’s capabilities in education, higher education, science, healthcare, future industries, and the local community into a single collaborative framework.
Building on the city’s achievement of the highest rating in the Educational Special Zone performance evaluation and the foundation of regional educational cooperation accumulated over the past three years, Wonju City plans to expand and enhance its exemplary Educational Special Zone model into a “Leading Region for Educational Innovation.” Through this, the city intends to build a sustainable “Wonju-style” future education ecosystem that bridges the educational gap and spans from nurturing future talent linked to regional specialty industries to encouraging residents to settle in the area. Each institution will actively leverage its human and material resources and expertise to collaborate on creating an educational environment unique to Wonju.
Wonju City and the Office of Education will lay the groundwork for policy and administrative cooperation and project implementation to drive regional educational innovation, while local universities will participate in operating various educational programs linked to elementary, middle, and high schools as well as local industries.
Specialized institutions will support educational and experiential programs linked to Wonju’s future industries, such as science, AI, and medical devices, while social cooperatives will contribute to revitalizing care services, experiential learning, and community-based education in partnership with the local community.
Wonju Mayor Koo Ja-yeol “It is highly significant that the Office of Education, universities, specialized institutions, and the local community have established a unified cooperative framework for Wonju’s educational innovation,” he said. “We will pool the capabilities of each institution to create an educational environment conducive to raising children, and we will spare no effort to secure designation as a Leading Region for Educational Innovation so that talented individuals who have learned and grown in this region can put down roots in Wonju.”
