[Provided by Andong City]
[Provided by Andong City]

With the establishment of a national medical school in North Gyeongsang Province now confirmed, Andong has begun in earnest its follow-up work to support the successful founding of the school and its teaching hospital.

According to Andong city, the Ministry of Education selected Gyeongguk National University on Nov. 4 as the institution to host the new medical school and allocated 40 freshman seats.

As the government pushes ahead with follow-up procedures aimed at enrolling the first class in 2030, Andong is working with relevant agencies to flesh out local support measures.

The city's key follow-up tasks include supporting the establishment of the medical school and teaching hospital, creating settlement conditions for students and medical personnel, and linking the new institutions to the local biotech and vaccine industries and medical research functions.

Andong plans to focus particularly on expanding the residential, educational and childcare infrastructure needed to help medical professionals put down roots in the region.

To that end, the city is reviewing plans to develop a medical lifestyle town — a working title — near the planned sites of the medical school and teaching hospital, featuring about 300 rental housing units along with childcare, commercial and community facilities.

Also under consideration are academic incentive grants and scholarships for students, relocation allowances, expanded dormitory subsidies, and rent support tied to the city's youth 1,000-won housing program.

The city will also pursue broader improvements to settlement conditions, including the development of a mixed-use community center in the provincial government new town and better access links to the original city center.

Andong is also exploring ways to use the new national medical school as a catalyst for growth in the local biotech and vaccine industries.

The strategy is to integrate the medical school and teaching hospital's educational, research and clinical functions into the existing industrial base — which includes the North Gyeongsang Bioindustry Research Institute, local biotech companies, the National Advanced Vaccine Development Center and the Bio-Life National Industrial Complex.

Through this, the city plans to extend the existing industry-academia-research collaboration framework to include hospitals, and to invigorate joint research, technology development and the training of specialized personnel.

The city is also reviewing ways to link medical workforce training to its Andong-style jobs program.

"We will work with related agencies — including North Gyeongsang Province, Yecheon-gun and Gyeongguk National University — to pursue follow-up tasks such as establishing the medical school and building settlement conditions in a phased manner," a city official said.


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