A single four-year campus is beating the ‘2+2’ split model. First combined intake could come in 2028 — with a longer-term vision of a military ‘comprehensive university’ absorbing the nursing and advanced-technology academies.
A plan to merge the Army, Navy and Air Force academies into a single ‘Armed Forces Academy’ at Jaun-dae in Daejeon, with four years of unified education, has emerged as the leading option. The government and ruling party will unveil the founding blueprint at a policy consultation on July 16, the Kyunghyang Shinmun and Hankook Ilbo reported.
광고 문의 · 300×250From ‘2+2’ to four years together
The Defense Ministry had studied a ‘2+2’ model — two common years followed by two service-specific years. But recent deliberations favored keeping cadets in one institution all four years to build joint-operations culture, even as branch-specific training begins in the third year.
The first combined intake could come as early as the 2028 academic year, when today's high-school juniors enter university.
A ‘comprehensive university’ and the sticking points
In the longer term, the ministry is weighing folding in the Armed Forces Nursing Academy and a planned advanced defense technology academy, turning the school into a comprehensive military university of multiple colleges.
Critics warn of eroding service traditions and identities and diluted specialization, so the battle over combined admissions and curriculum design is far from over.
