On 7 August, the Ministry of Education and the National Research Foundation of Korea announced the provisional selection results for the Phase 4 BK (Brain Korea) 21 programme, which provides research funding and other support for stable academic research and technology development in new industries at universities.

Three education and research groups and five education and research teams at the University were selected; their names and the number of participating faculty are as follows.

△Innovative Talent Development Group for Future Brain-Inspired Intelligent System Semiconductors (Department of Electronic Engineering, 7 members), △Education and Research Group for Mobile Blockchain-Based Intelligent Healthcare Solutions for Disaster and Emergency Sites (Department of Electronic Engineering, 7 members) and △Group for Cultivating World-Class Practice-Oriented Big Data Convergence Talent (Department of Computer Science & Engineering, 12 members) — three research groups; and △Evidence-Based Political Science Research Team (Department of Political Science and International Relations, 6 members), △Education and Research Team on Biomolecular Function in Stress Response (Department of Life Science, 7 members), △Molecular Control-Based Chemical and Biological Process Research Team (Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, 7 members), △K-MENA Specialist Development Team (Department of History, 4 members) and △Education and Research Team on Smart Mechanical Technology for Social Value Creation (Department of Mechanical Engineering, 7 members) — five research teams.

The University will accordingly receive research funding some 80% greater than under the Phase 3 BK21 programme (2013–2020) for seven years from September 2020, enabling it to cultivate master's- and doctoral-level researchers who will lead the Fourth Industrial Revolution on a still more stable footing.

President Park Jong-koo said: "This provisional selection for the Phase 4 BK21 programme is the result of the effort and cooperation of the Sogang community," adding: "I hope it will allow still more students to devote themselves to research and grow into the convergence-oriented talent that future society needs."