Abstract
The role played by education in the process of entering into the knowledge economy for Korean society has been influential and its impact remains strong, with higher education carrying out an important role in developing the necessary human resources for its sustainability. A series of higher education reforms have been implemented since the late 1990s whose major features include: deregulation and autonomy in college admissions including introducing an admission officer system, a university information disclosure system, and a university accreditation system; restructuring the college system; applying a formula-funding system in university finance and providing ICL(income-contingent loans); and launching projects such as Brain Korea 21 and World Class University aiming at internationalization. However, some issues that still need to be discussed and improved on within the Korean higher education system include: harmonizing the issues of institutional autonomy and accountability; defining universities capacity; providing reliable higher education information; and establishing specialized higher education institutions. This paper raises the following five issues that need to be explored: (1) What will be taught in college? (2) What is the role of the government in higher education? (3) How can the supply and demand in higher education be balanced? (4) What should be the response to the transformation of higher education demand? (5) How should financial resources for higher education be allocated appropriately?
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Notes
- 1.
In 2010, Korea ranked number 1 in mathematics and reading and number 3 in science in the OECD Program for International Student Assessment (PISA).
- 2.
In order to fully understand universalization of higher education in Korea, the elementary and secondary education opportunity expansion policy should be understood as a background. After independence, an open-door policy for middle school was applied in 1969 with the implementation of a no-exam system, and for high school was applied in 1977 with the high school equalization policy. In 1980, the government implemented an open-door policy for colleges to double the entrance rate by promoting normalization of education and a graduation quota system (currently abolished).
- 3.
Korea implemented an equalization policy at high school level in 1974. Since the equalization policy, high schools have not carried the burden of recruiting students, who are automatically supplied by lottery. Also, colleges had no difficulties in recruiting freshmen because the number of applicants far exceeded available seats for admission, That is, the consumers had to compete to purchase the educational goods, while the suppliers did not have to compete at all. But now this situation is changing rapidly due to the decreasing number of university applicants (Yu 2002).
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Yu, H. (2014). Evaluation of Educational Reform Measures and Future Directions for the Knowledge Economy: Focusing on Higher Education. In: Park, H., Kim, Kk. (eds) Korean Education in Changing Economic and Demographic Contexts. Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, vol 23. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-4451-27-7_6
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