Kookmin University (President Jeong Seung-ryul) has been selected for four projects in the RISE program organized by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, achieving second place among Seoul-based universities in terms of the number of projects selected by a single university or as the lead institution.

RISE (Regional Innovation System & Education) is a government initiative (led by the Ministry of Education) that transfers budget execution authority for university financial support programs from the central government to local governments, enabling universities to innovate in alignment with regional characteristics and development strategies. Based on the selection results, a total of 565 billion won will be allocated to 35 universities, including Kookmin University.

The Seoul RISE project consists of four major projects and ten individual tasks (for four-year universities), including strengthening global university competitiveness, strengthening the foundation of Seoul's strategic industries, promoting mutual growth with the local community, and strengthening lifelong and vocational education. The evaluation comprehensively assessed each university's unique capabilities and characteristics, the feasibility of its project plans, and its contribution to the local community. Kookmin University was selected for four of the ten individual tasks, including ▲activating the industry-academia cooperation ecosystem, ▲cultivating creative industry talent, ▲solving local issues, and ▲enhancing lifelong education in Seoul, and will receive a total of 13 billion won over five years, with 2.6 billion won per year.

In the field of activating the industry-academia collaboration ecosystem, the university plans to leverage its long-standing research achievements and expertise in industry-academia collaboration to commercialize various corporate technologies and link them with the Seoul Metropolitan Government to foster strategic industries. In the Creative Industry Talent Development category, the university will expand AI-related education to reflect the influence of AI across all industries. Leveraging its strengths in the balanced development of humanities, natural sciences, and arts and physical education, the university will cultivate creative industry (video field) fusion talent by integrating AI into design, automotive, and arts.

In the regional issues area, efforts will be focused on establishing a regional governance system. Kookmin University has taken the lead in communicating with the local community and solving problems together through creative ideas by combining two completely different subjects, such as the Department of Public Administration and the Department of Automotive and Transportation Design, in a program called “Team Team Class.” Through this project, the university plans to further strengthen its network with the local community to build a safe and trustworthy commercial environment.

In the field of advanced lifelong education in Seoul, the university will leverage its strengths in specialized areas such as automotive, design, and global peace and unification to serve as a hub for lifelong education infrastructure through mutually beneficial collaboration with the local community. To this end, the university will actively support students interested in employment and entrepreneurship by providing opportunities to obtain national certifications, operating AI-fusion employment linkage programs and credit-recognized micro-degree systems, and offering open learning courses based on vocational education and excellent liberal arts lectures for adult learners with a strong desire to learn.

Kookmin University President Seung-ryeol Jeong stated, “Based on the community spirit of Shin Ik-hee, who founded the university, and the practical educational philosophy of Kim Sung-gon, who led its revival, Kookmin University has prepared projects that are practical and can be applied in various fields, contributing to the region and society.” He added, “Through numerous financial support programs, we have accumulated significant achievements in education and research, which have enabled us to achieve good results. We will strive to leverage the unique characteristics and expertise of each field to foster mutual growth and development between Kookmin University and the Seoul Metropolitan Government.”