Fulbright U.S. Education Center

The Korea Times reports that education authorities have issued a disciplinary warning to Yongsan International School of Seoul (YISS) for admitting unqualified students. They confirmed an earlier report by The Korea Times (Aug. 25) that the school admitted eight unqualified Korean students who were children of the school’s Korean staff. The students in question have now transferred to other Korean schools.

“We’ve issued a stern warning to the school,’’ said O Nam-bum, an official of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE). “The warning means that if the school accepts unqualified students again, it will face a suspension of operations.’’ Koreans are ineligible to attend the school unless they have lived overseas for more than five years.

There are some 50 foreign schools operating in Korea with about 10,000 enrolled students. Among them, Seoul has 20 and the city plans to build three more by 2012.

There is an interesting report by Reuters today on the rapidly growing use of internet-based services that allow Korean students to talk with native-speakers of English.  The article notes that on any given day, students ranging from kids learning their alphabet to adults preparing for job interviews sign in on their Internet messengers, fire up their webcams and wait for English teachers to appear — from faraway continents.

Web English is one of the fastest growing segments in South Korea’s private English education industry, which is estimated at 15 trillion won ($13 billion) a year — almost half of the country’s annual education budget. About 150 to 200 companies are in the market offering phone and Web English tutoring.  KT Corp, South Korea’s dominant fixed-line and broadband operator, provides a service called “Hello ET” cooperating with a South Korean English education company. Internet portal SK Communications runs “Spicus” which includes a job interview drill on a video-chat platform. Applicants hand out their completed English resume before the drill. An interviewer stages a simulation interview through webcam, looking through resumes, and later provides feedback on logical speaking and communication skills.  In terms of cost, a three-times-a-week Web English course can be covered for about 100,000 won a month. ($1=1151.0 Won)

Reports in both the Korea Times and the Joongang Ilbo recently highlighted the continued growth of South Korea’s private institutes, otherwise known as cram schools.  According to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, the private education market was worth 20 trillion won last year. Some, however, estimate the market to be as big as 30 trillion won when including institutes for kids and adults. Many private institutes have turned into huge enterprises with nationwide franchises and are preparing to list on the stock market. Some of them are even planning to advance into other Asian markets. 

A number of global private equity funds have invested in the private education market over the last few years. Their investment is expected to hone its competitiveness but concerns are growing that public education at schools might be left behind. The investments show that private education is not about small private cram schools or “hagwon” under careless management anymore ― it has grown into a huge industry. 

The Carlyle Group, for example, invested $20 million in Topia Academy, a private institute specializing in English education; TStone invested 60 billion won in Time Holdings, a cram school; Elim Edu, an essay school, got a $13 million investment from Goldman Sachs; and AIG Investment put $60 million into Avalon, an English language institute.

President Lee Myung-bak administration’s focus on English education is also expected to bolster the private education market.

According to an article in the Korea Times, many South Korean universities are planning to shut down or downsize what they call unpopular departments in a bid to concentrate on sought-after studies and reduce their budget spending.  Konkuk University said Monday it might shut down its European Union Studies and Jewish and Middle East Studies departments from the spring semester after taking into account their poor employment rates and lukewarm response from students.The university will also downsize its Physical and Music Education departments as demand on teachers majoring in such subjects has been falling, while it will establish an English Education Department to meet the soaring demand for English-specialized teachers. Seoul National University, the nation’s No. 1 school, is considering unifying its three out-of-favor departments ㅡ the Department of Asian History, Western History.

The Korea Times reports today that Ewha Womans University will open a TESOL graduate school next March to meet the growing demand for English teachers.  Ewha, the oldest and biggest women’s school in Korea, will recruit 40 students at the end of the year and work together with the University of London Institute of Education on dual degree programs. Ehwa President Lee Bae-yong also said she wants to push for globalization projects. Ewha will set up eight more global centers in overseas universities. So far, Ewha has built centers in 12 cities including New York, Beijing, Boston, Tokyo and Hong Kong for networking. With the bases, it aims to send 60 percent of freshmen to sister universities as part of global outreach programs by 2010.

There was an interesting article in today’s Joongang Ilbo, English edition, about the effects of the announcement by the city of Seoul’s education authority that it would establish two new, all-English, international middle schools.   The article shows quite graphically the relationship between strategies in public education and the activities of private English and study abroad institutes.

The Korea Times published an editorial that provides interesting background on the issues raised by the announced plan for Seoul to establish two international middle schools.  This was the subject of an earlier post.  For those of you interested, this editorial helps to frame the issue more completely.

Seoul National University and dozens of other universities will expand the use of admission officers to recruit students.  The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology announced Wednesday that the schools will admit at least 3,000 students next year under a state-supported ”admission officer” system. The ministry last year began subsidizing 10 universities for recruiting admission officers with two billion won ($2 million) and has selected 30 more schools for the program this year. “Universities could introduce a more advanced recruitment system with admissions officers and overcome their old practice of evaluating students with a uniform yardstick,” ministry official Hwang Hong-kyu told reporters at the Central Government Complex in Seoul.  See the complete report in The Korea Times.

As reported in the Joongang Ilbo, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has announced a plan to establish two international middle schools in the capital city, each of which will accept 160 freshmen beginning next March.  Each school will accept 160 first-year students who will be divided into five classes. The annual tuition will be set at 4.8 million won ($4,574) or less, a measure partly aimed at quelling criticism that the new schools will be affordable only for children from rich families. But first-year students also have to pay an additional 700,000 won as an entrance fee. The Korean Teachers and Education Workers’ Union held a press conference in front of the education office yesterday to protest the decision.
“The change would put enormous burden on elementary school students and increase the financial burden on parents, eventually devastating the elementary education system,” said the union in a statement.

In the first half of 2008, Korean expenditures on education and language training abroad fell by the biggest margin since the 1997 financial crisis. According to a Bank of Korea report on the balance of international payments released Sunday, Koreans spent US$2.256 billion on overseas training in the first half of 2008, down 5.8 percent, or $138 million year on year. 

According to an article in the Chosun Ilbo, the falling figures are due primarily to worsening financial conditions, including a weaker local currency and a slowing economy, although some attribute this phenomenon to Koreans’ reduced preference for overseas studying and language training.   Some analysts have suggested that the phenomenon of sending children overseas at younger and younger ages has peaked.  For further detail, read the full article.