On February 5, the Presidents of the five universities (CNU, Mokpo National University, Mokpo National Maritime University, Sunchon National University, and Yosu National University) took part in a meeting to confirm the development programs for the university consortium system, which have been mapped out by the Working-level Committee for Establishing a Gwangju-Jeonnam National University Consortium System. The presidents’ meeting was held at the office of the CNU President Chung Seok-jong. The five universities are concentrating their cooperative efforts to cultivate specialization fields of research and education, which will hold sway over the future of the universities. Professors participating in the project as working-level committee attended the meeting in order to discuss strategies for the university specialization programs and revise a draft plan for the project. The Committee prepared the system plans in order to cope with the government’s Regional Innovation System and focused on mapping out the project plans concerning the organizational structure of the university consortium system, strategies for strengthening the competitiveness. After the hearing, to be held in a near future, a draft plan will be finalized at the end of this month. The draft plan will be submitted to the Ministry of Education and Human Resources for consultation and cooperation. In line with the government’s regional innovation system, the five universities have agreed to start a cooperative system including joint research projects. For this, six different departments from the five universities will begin the programs this year. The followings are the departments and professors who will participate in the cooperative projects: ▲ Dept. of Philosophy: 10 professors from CNU and 10 from Sunchon National University ▲Dept. of Electronics Computer & Information Engineering: 25 from CNU and 4 from Mokpo National University ▲Dept. of Biosystems & Agricultural Engineering: 4 from CNU and 6 from Sunchon National University ▲Dept. of Law: 15 from CNU, 6 from Mokpo National University, and 6 from Sunchon National University ▲Dept. of Biological Sciences: 20 from CNU, 7 from Mokpo National University, and 9 from Sunchon National University ▲Dept. of Mechanical Systems & Engineering: 18 from CNU, 11 from Mokpo National University, 11 from Sunchon National University, 11 from Yosu National University, and 13 from Mokpo National Maritime University