Fulbright U.S. Education Center

The number of four-year universities charging annual tuition fee over W8 million increased from 34 in 2010 to 50 this year (US$1=W1,069). Tuition at public universities rose 0.6 percent over the last year to W4.43 million, and at private universities it was up 2.29 percent to W7.69 million. Korea University’s medical school charges a hefty W12.80 million.

But with 40 percent of the country’s 16.7 million salaried workers earning only W1-2million a month, how many among the 3.5 million students can afford to pay such enormous fees?

Universities in Korea have raised their fees by 5 to 10 percent every year over the last decade, except during the economic crisis. Per-capita tuition was W2.41 million at public universities and W4.79 million at private universities in 2001 and has risen 60 to 84 percent over the last 10 years.

According to OECD statistics, tuition fees in Korea are the second highest among member nations after the U.S. But despite soaring fees, the student-to-teacher ratio remains at 32.7, which is twice the OECD average, while dormitories can admit only 17.3 percent of students. Universities need to be able to house at least 25 percent of their students. Naturally students are wondering where all of their money is being spent.

The high fees are the result of universities’ strong dependence on them. Public universities draw 40 percent of their budget from tuition fees and private universities 65 percent. School foundations should be responsible for gathering donations and contributions and investing the school’s assets to generate profits, but Korean universities have an old habit of buying up land that is not immediately needed and building memorial halls and auditoriums that cost tens of billions of won, tapping into tuitions to finance them. Many universities also appropriate fees to pay for medical insurance and pensions of their employees, which should be funded by the school foundation.

Many private universities overstate their budgets and then use the figures as reasons to hike fees, only to amass the increased revenues into their accounts and repeat the process the following year. One private university in Seoul apparently amassed W40-60 billion every year between 2004 to 2008. As of 2009, 149 private universities in Korea held W6.9 trillion. As long as this practice persists, it will be impossible to lower the tuition burden and we should stop hoping for progress in university education.

Sources: “Universities Are Charging Too Much Money for Little Benefit” The Chosun Ibo, May 2, 2011. http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2011/05/02/2011050201249.html

Minister of Education, Science and Technology Ahn, Byung-man has stressed the importance of diversifying the nationalities of foreign students coming to Korea for study.  As reported in the Korea Times, Minister Ahn noted that achieving this goal would have several positive effects, including the cultivation of excellent human resources overseas, the creation of economic added value, and the nurturing of Korea-friendly leaders in other countries.

Minister Ahn also said that the Global Korea Scholarship (GKS), the Korean version of the Fulbright Grant Program in the United States, marks a shift of focus in national policies on foreign students from quantitative expansion to qualitative improvement.

The Korean government has sent official notices to Korean embassies around the world mandating them to scrap their customary practice of picking “unqualified” students for the state scholarship program.  The government has often accepted children of foreign ranking government officials even though they fall short of the minimum standards, a practice believed to help boost long-term relations between Korea and other countries.  As reported in The Korea Times, the National Institute for International Education (NIIED) said that 504 students were selected last year, 147 undergraduates and 357 graduate students. (click on graphic for larger version)

The article also says that “With the aim of making state scholarships a Korean branding project similar to the Fulbright Program, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has this year integrated them into the “Global Korea Scholarship project, which has a budget of 51.5 billion won ($46.6 million).  This year the ministry plans to select 700 students.”

The Chosun Ilbo has an interesting report by the job portal Job Korea of 2,042 salaried workers.   The survey focused on their regrets during the economic recession.  27.2 percent picked poor English skills, 25.1 percent chose lack of professional skills or licenses, and 15.3 percent answered lacking a degree from a prestigious university.  Office workers form a significant presence among students at English language schools in the Gangnam business district of Seoul.  Lunchtime classes at some schools are packed with office workers.  Many of them are focusing on improving their conversational skills.

TOEFL, TOEIC and other English test scores will not be used as major elements in the process of admitting students to universities under the admissions officer system.  As reported in The Korea Times, this is part of new guidelines announced by the Korean Council for University Education (KCUE).  The new policy is in line with the government’s move to reduce private tutoring costs and reinvigorate the public school system.  More weight will be given to academic records from high schools, recommendations from teachers, and leadership activities.

As reported in the Chosun Ilbo today, it will become easier for Korean universities to establish overseas campuses under a government plan to absorb demand for study abroad.  An official said the government will lift restrictions for overseas campuses of universities within this month and is preparing to support not only educational institutions, but also other services such as medical, IT and financial firms in branching out overseas.

Statistics Korea  has released a report showing that the student-to-teacher-ratio in Korean elementary schools dropped below 20 to 1 last year, while the proportion of those aged 65 and over to the entire population rose to 10.7 percent.  As reported in The Chosun Ilbo, the figures confirm the aging trend and low birthrate in Korea.   The student-to-teacher ratio in elementary schools stood at 19.8 to 1, as the number of elementary school children fell 15.9 percent between 2000 and 2009 from 4.02 million to 3.47 million.  The proportion of over 65s to the entire population reached 10.7 percent last year, up from 7.2 percent in 2000.

South Korea rose from the ashes of the Korean war to its current status as an advanced, industrialized economy on the strength of hard work and technology development.  However, most analyses of Korea’s development over the past half century point to education as a key.  The World Bank’s extensive study of Korea’s emergence as a Knowledge Economy came to this conclusion.

Most recently, during the current global financial crisis, Korea is among a handful of major industrial nations that have continued to boost education spending, despite the recession.  The others are China, Taiwan, Germany, France and Brazil,, according to research conducted at U.C. Berkeley’s Center for Studies in Higher Education and reported in The San Francisco Chronicle.

Today’s Joongang Daily has an interesting article summarizing the results of a recent study by the Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI).  KEDI surveyed 6,600 students at 116 high schools across the country who also attend a hagwon (private institute) and asked them to rate hagwon and public school teachers in fourteen different dimensions.  Students were asked, for example, if they were satisfied with teachers, how much teachers were devoted to teaching, how well teachers were prepared for class, and so forth.

The ratings showed that students gave higher scores to hagwon teachers for preparing them for college entrance exams, and for trying to maintain closeness with students.  Some school teachers complained about the results of KEDI’s research, suggesting it was not appropriate to compare hagwon and public school teachers since their purposes were different.

The Korea Times is carrying a series of articles on private tutoring in South Korea.  Today’s article focuses on the difficulty of enforcing laws against such tutoring.   According to an official at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, “It is hard to control tutoring due to privacy matters, especially when it comes to foreigners.  Moreover, many of those who seek out such tutoring are well connected, leaving little room for authorities to uncover their illegal transactions.”

Reportedly, no foreign tutors have been caught by the authorities for violation of the Private Education law.