This was part of his remarks at the 2025 Korea Times Global Conference, titled "Beyond Borders: Strengthening Global Competitiveness of Korean Universities." In this paper's maiden K-universities Global Excellence Rankings, which seeks to evaluate institutions based on internationalization efforts, Korea University topped the list with 144.86 points across four categories. Seoul National University and Yonsei University followed in second and third, and the top 10 was rounded out by Sungkyunkwan University, Hanyang University, Sogang University, University of Seoul, Ewha Womans University, Kyung Hee University and Dongguk University. But to upgrade their global competitiveness, experts at the conference called for establishing global campuses and cooperation on education and research networks. While Songdo houses the Incheon Global Campus for foreign institutions, Korean universities have yet to open campuses overseas.