Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) officially launched the Namwon Glocal Campus, a regenerated site built on the former Seonam University campus. The campus presents a new higher education model that combines regional revitalization through settlement-oriented talent development with the cultivation of global talent.

JBNU held the 'Namwon Glocal Campus New Student Welcome Ceremony' on April 22 at the Samsung Arts Center Geonji Art Hall and officially announced the start for 171 international students who enrolled for the first time this year.

About 250 people, including Choi Kyung-sik, Mayor of Namwon, local officials, and faculty members, attended the event to welcome and encourage the new students.

The Namwon Glocal Campus is a globally specialized campus promoted as a core project of the Glocal University 30 initiative. It has attracted attention as the only regional revitalization–type university model nationwide, created by regenerating the closed Namwon Seonam University site.

This project is regarded as an example in which a university, local government, and the central government cooperated to transform neglected educational infrastructure into a national strategic educational hub, going beyond mere facility reuse. It is evaluated as an educational innovation model that simultaneously addresses the regional depopulation crisis and fosters regional co-prosperity.

JBNU designed the campus as a 'settlement-oriented education model' centered on international students. Beyond the traditional short-term exchange student–focused internationalization, its core is to build an end-to-end system that attracts overseas talent from the undergraduate level, encourages settlement in the region, and links education, daily life, and employment.

Currently, specialized programs exclusively for international students — including K-Entertainment, K-Commerce, and the Department of Korean Language — have been established and are operating. The campus has secured differentiated competitiveness through an educational system that combines practice-oriented instruction based on global demand with region-linked programs.

In particular, with 171 international students admitted this year, selected from more than ten countries, a multinational educational environment has been fully established. JBNU plans to further develop a system for cultivating 'global talent who remain in the region' by strengthening stable settlement support for international students and links with local industries.

At the event, welcome kits were presented to outstanding new students from each country, and departmental student representatives shared their impressions of enrollment to commemorate the global campus's first launch.

JBNU, in cooperation with Namwon City, will simultaneously pursue improvements to settlement conditions and region-linked programs, aiming to establish a virtuous cycle in which international students settle in the local community and contribute to industry and the community.

President Yang O-bong stated, 'The Namwon Glocal Campus is a new national strategic education model that connects the region, the university, and global talent beyond simply regenerating a closed campus,' and added, 'As a flagship outcome of the Glocal University 30 project, we will drive regional innovation and the internationalization of higher education simultaneously.'

The launch of the Namwon Glocal Campus is both an example of converting an abandoned closed campus into a national strategic educational hub and a symbolic model demonstrating that regionally balanced development policies centered on flagship national universities are yielding concrete results.