![The 6th Busan Metropolitan City Anchor Committee convenes Thursday morning at the main conference room of Busan City Hall. [Busan City]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/07/23/news-p.v1.20260723.3277a72f12844c008b069b818180ef7e_P1.png)
Busan held the 6th Busan Metropolitan City Anchor Committee meeting Thursday morning at the main conference room on the first floor of Busan City Hall.
About 80 people attended, including committee chair Mayor Jeon Jae-soo, co-chair Choi Jae-won, president of Pusan National University, heads of other local universities, Busan Metropolitan City Superintendent of Education Kim Seok-jun, representatives from the business community, and officials from participating universities.
The Anchor Committee is the top decision-making body, composed of representatives from the city government, the city council, universities, industry, the city education office and regional innovation institutions. It deliberates and resolves key matters related to the Anchor project.
The meeting reviewed revised second-year project plans for each university — reflecting budget adjustments and supplementary measures based on self-evaluation results — as well as Busan's first-year Anchor annual review report, prepared for the Ministry of Education's first-year performance assessment covering all 16 cities and provinces.
Once the report is submitted by the end of this month, incorporating feedback from Thursday's committee discussions, on-site evaluations will be conducted by region in August, with the full assessment to be completed by the end of September. Based on the annual review results, budget reallocation within a total of 400 billion won ($270 million) will proceed according to the performance ratings of the 16 cities and provinces, with second-year project budgets for each university to be finalized around October.
The city plans to fully restructure its framework into a "student- and talent-centered Busan Anchor system" in line with the central government's policy to reorganize the RISE program into an Anchor-based structure. To that end, the city intends to streamline the dedicated project management system among the city, its implementing agencies and universities, while strengthening communication and cooperation.
"The growth of local universities is the single most important driving force in advancing Busan as the maritime capital," Mayor Jeon said. "The essence of the Anchor system goes beyond simply supporting universities — it is about building a foundation where universities, businesses and local communities grow together so that our youth can put down roots in Busan and plan their futures here."
ook967@heraldcorp.com
