Copyright 2001 by The Institute of Asia Pacific Education Development
Asia Pacific Education Review
2001, Vol. 2, No. 2, 96-105.
A Case of Korean Higher Education Reform :
The Brain Korea 21 Project
Ki-Seok Kim
Seoul National University
Korea
Mugyeong Moon
Seoul National University
Korea
USA
The purpose of this paper is to examine current status, issues, and visions of higher education reform in Korea by
focusing on ‘Brain Korea 21’ (BK21). ‘Brain Korea 21’ (BK21), is a major higher education reform project initiated by
st
the South Korean government to prepare Korean human resources for the 21 century. ‘Brain Korea 21’ (BK21) aims
at fostering world-class graduate schools and high quality scholars by providing funds to higher education institutions.
In this paper, societal, economic and educational changes which led to the initiation of BK 21 and its implementation
processes are described first. Then, some resistance and controversies against BK 21 are discussed. Major achievements
of BK 21 are highlighted and future directions of higher education reform in South Korea are addressed.
For the last decade, higher education reform through
innovation at the university level has been a major
concern of the South Korean government. Yet, it was
only fairly recently that the government made visible
efforts at higher education reform. The low level of
academic competence of Korean universities assessed by
international standards drew intense attention from the
government. For example, the Asia Week ’99 reported
that Seoul National University, the most competitive
school in South Korea, ranked third among the quality
universities in the Asia region, following Tokyo
University and Kyoto University in Japan. The amount
of international journal publications by Korean
universities registered in the Scientific Citation Index in
Mugyeong Moon, Research Fellow, The Institute of Asia Pacific
Education Development, Seoul National University; Ki-Seok Kim,
Professor, Department of Education, Seoul National University,
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to
Mugyeong Moon, Department of Education, Seoul National University,
San 56-1, Shinlim-dong, Kwanak-gu, Seoul, 151-742, Korea. Electronic
mail may be sent via internet to mgmoon1@plaza.snu.ac.kr.
1998 were equivalent to only 3.9% of those by
American universities. In addition, Korean universities
increasingly rely on universities abroad, creating a 7
billion dollar deficit in national revenue and expenditure.
For all of these reasons, the South Korean government
has come to direct its efforts to university level
innovation.
Another primary motivation for university innovation
is establishing an underpinning for the ‘knowledge
economy.’ As in every country, universities in South
Korea play the key role in creating and maintaining a
highly educated population. Because a knowledge based
economy produced by high quality human resources is a
crucial means of economic growth, South Korea has
been trying to transform its universities into ‘world-class’
ones.
South Korea is not the only country aspiring to
build a ‘world-class’ higher education establishment.
Having the same aspiration, other Asian countries such
as Singapore, Taiwan, China, and Japan have invested
substantially in linking their universities to high-tech
industries. In particular, Singapore’s ambition to produce
a ‘Boston of the East’, which replicates the distinguished
academic and industrial environments and networks of
the Boston area, must be acknowledged.
While these Asian countries have geared themselves
96
Higher Education Reform
towards establishing higher education, there are some
skeptical perspectives on Asia’s academic aspirations.
Altabach (2000), a well-known scholar in the field of
higher education from Boston College argues that Asia’s
higher education reform will not be easy and needs
more
realistic
approaches.
By
contrasting
the
environmental advantages of Boston (e.g., the large
scale, highly competitive academic systems, large private
endowments, and academic freedom), Altbach points out
some problems of university innovation in Asia. That is,
Asian countries tend to pay more attention to ensuring
government funding and central planning rather than to
creating an intellectual environment for sustained
innovation. Altbach insists that universities cannot be
bought ‘off the shelf,’ and it takes time and thorough
thinking. In particular, Altbach suggests that Asian
countries should keep a fine balance of institutional
autonomy and a sense of public interest in the processes
of university innovation.
Altabach deserves some credit for addressing some
problems of higher education reform in Asia. However,
a number of Asian countries have already made
impressive initial progress. For instance, the ‘Brain Korea
21’(BK 21) project of South Korea is designed to
enhance the academic competence of universities in
South Korea. After one and a half years of participating
in the BK 21 project, Seoul National University became
the top 55th (2,202 articles) in the world in terms of the
number of articles published in SCI journals in 2000.
This can be considered a remarkable achievement, since
th
Seoul National University ranked 94 (1,671 articles) in
the world before the inception of BK 21.
‘Brain Korea 21’(BK21) is a national-level higher
education reform project initiated by the South Korean
government to prepare Korean human resources for the
st
21 century. It is a project geared toward providing funds
to higher education institutions for restructuring the overall
college education system to meet the challenges of the
new era. Since BK 21 is the major project of current
higher education reform in South Korea, we focus on the
introduction of the BK 21 project and discussing related
issues. In doing so, the dynamic interrelationships of social,
political, economic, and educational factors that led to the
initiation of BK 21 are described. In addition, some
controversies against the unfolding of BK 21 are
discussed. In conclusion, achievements and future
directions of higher education reform in South Korea are
addressed.
97
Political, Economic, and Social Changes Since 1996
Korea joined the OECD as its twenty-ninth member
nation in December 1996. Korea had grown for the
previous thirty-five years from one of the world's
poorest countries to an industrialized one ranked eleventh
in the world in terms of its economy size. Per-capita
national income reached $10,000 in 1996 with a
comparatively equitable pattern of income distribution,
while average life expectancy was 72 years, approaching
the average 76 years of other OECD countries.
Korean society has undergone tremendous political,
economic, and social changes since Korea joined the
OECD. A democratic election held in December 1997
resulted in a transfer of political power, giving rise to a
“Government of the People”. In 1998, fifty years after
its independence, Korea witnessed a landmark shift in
politics, particularly transition of political power to the
opposition party for the first time.
Presenting “the integrated development of democracy
and a market economy” as the fundamental goal of the
regime, President Dae-Jung Kim launched extensive reforms
in virtually all areas. These included the arenas of politics,
the economy, social and foreign policies, and North-South
Korea relations. Since then, President Kim's strong will of
reform, especially in the four major areas of finance,
corporations, industrial relations, and public service has
resulted in several considerable accomplishments.
However, shortly before the actual transfer of power
in November 1997, Korea suddenly had to face an
economic catastrophe, and to avert it by obtaining
financial aid from the International Monetary Fund
(IMF). With the amount of its usable foreign currency
reserves almost exhausted in November 1997, Korea
received emergency financial aid from the IMF. As a
result, foreign currency reserves started to increase again
in January 1998 with money flowing in.
Korea's labor market has experienced dramatic changes
since the IMF period. Confronting unprecedented economic
hardship, the unemployment rate showed upward
movement from 2.6 percent in November 1997 to 7.9
percent in December 1998. It then decreased to 6.8
percent in 1999, and to 4.1 percent in 2000
(http://www/. nso.go.kr). Along with the increase in the
98
Mugyeong Moon and Ki-Seok Kim
unemployment rate by the end of 1998, the length of
time people spent unemployed also increased. This
reflected the unemployment pattern experienced by the
developed countries several decades ago.
Most of those who became unemployed and who
suffered from the economic crisis were low-wage workers
with a low level of education. Major causes behind
large-scale unemployment were the financial-economic
crisis and the ensuing depression and restructuring.
Sixty-three percent of the laid-off workers were either
temporary or daily laborers, and the newly recruited staff
members of small companies tended to be more
susceptible to dismissal than those at big firms.
Korea had entered an era of low growth in which a
high rate of unemployment was unavoidable. Thus, the
Korean government came up with a comprehensive
countermeasure for unemployment with a fund of about
$6.7 billion for vocational retraining and pensions.
The Korean government proposed a 'shift from a
materials-oriented
manufacturing
economy
to
a
knowledge-based economy' as one of its 'six major policy
goals' in 1998. Then, it announced building a 'society
with a creative knowledge-base' as its core task in
national
politics,
putting
the
creation
of
a
knowledge-based society on its political agenda. In 1999,
the effort to build a knowledge-based society became
more noticeable and was selected as one of five political
objectives. The Ministry of Education formulated a
five-year plan for educational development in March
1999 to prepare for a knowledge-based society and is
currently gathering opinions from diverse social sectors.
In line with the Constitution and the Fundamental Law of
Education, which designates the promotion of lifelong
education as one of the nation's responsibilities, the Korean
government revised the existing Continuing Education Law
entirely and announced the Lifelong Education Law. Under
the Fundamental Law of Education, the new Lifelong
Education Law is comprised of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Law, Higher Education Law, and Lifelong
Education Law, and is ultimately aimed at realizing an open
education and a lifelong learning society. The closed system
of social education that privileged the suppliers of education
is to be transformed into an open system of lifelong
education centering on the consumers, that is, learners.
The Impact of Socio-Economic Changes on Education
One of the most devastating changes that occurred in
the past three years was the loss of much of the
nation's economic competitiveness under the system of
financial support from the IMF. The educational reform
drive initiated by the government of the previous
President Young-Sam Kim did not realize such plans as
securing for the education budget 5 percent of GNP by
1998. Due to a drastic cut in the education tax, which
forms the base of educational finance, the education
budget for 1998 remained at 4.3 percent of GNP, the
same level as that for 1996.
Due to the retrenched education budget, the drive for
education reform faced difficulties in improving the
educational environment. Since the unwanted pattern of
'high cost, low efficiency' prevalent in all social sectors
had to be restructured under IMF stewardship, the
education sector was not an exception. The restructuring
of the education sector began to unfold with the
lowering of teachers' retirement age and a cutback in
the number of supporting staff.
The high unemployment caused by the economic
depression led people to recognizing the importance of
lifelong vocational education for adults. In fact, adult
education for new jobs became a major concern of
universities and junior colleges. Due to the national
economic crisis, Koreans came to recognize increasingly that
all adults needed to cultivate job capability throughout their
lifetime in order to cope with the changing job market in
the knowledge-based economic society of the twenty-first
century. This recognition has provided a momentum for
transforming the existing educational system into one of
lifelong learning in its truest sense.
The policy goal of 'the integrated development of
democracy and a market economy' advocated by the
new 'Government of the People' has provided a
chance for the principles of the market economy to
take root in the area of education. Although the
previous government had actively pushed for
deregulation and autonomy in education, the degree to
which it was actually put into practice was less than
satisfactory. However, the concept of a market
economy put forth by the new government placed
education in the hands of the marketplace and
expanded the scope of choice for recipients of
educational services (i.e., learners). It also greatly
extended autonomy in school management.
The colleges and universities of South Korea will
enjoy increased autonomy in academic affairs, while
enhancing their competitiveness in the areas of
Higher Education Reform
specialization. In concert with the new direction of the
education reform, the government will delegate more
responsibilities to universities, the cradle of international
competitiveness, for establishing and implementing
strategies for specialization and diversification.
99
to cultivate professionals in various fields
Transforming the higher education system in order
to facilitate competitive growth among universities
based on the quality of their students and
academic productivities.
Plan to Support Universities
The "Brain Korea 21"(BK 21) is a major higher
education reform project that aims at cultivating
creative and high quality human resources necessary
for the forthcoming knowledge-based society. To
accomplish this aim, the government has decided to
invest 1.4 trillion won (about $1.2 billion) in
universities over seven years. Three-quarters of the
budget will be invested in supporting graduate schools
in certain fields in the natural and applied sciences,
humanities, and social sciences. While selected graduate
schools and universities will be developed into leading
world-class universities, the remaining institutions will
become regional universities that will create the human
resources required by local industries.
The graduate students in the selected graduate
schools are the direct beneficiaries of the project.
Research funds do not go directly to professors in the
form of grants and a large part of the budget is used
to provide a supportive educational environment for
graduate students in the form of stipends, financial
support for overseas study, and research infrastructure.
The
overall
objectives,
plans
to
support
universities, expected outcomes, and funding sources
of the BK21 project are described briefly below
(Ministry of Education and Human Resources
Department, 2001).
1) Plan to Nurture the World-class Graduate School.
Nurturing world class graduate schools with enough
capability to produce creative knowledge in
strategically important sectors for Korea - 1.2 billion
dollars in 7 years (1999 to 2005)
Reforming universities in student admission systems
and professor performance review systems
a. Target subject areas to be supported
There are two subject areas to be supported by BK
21: 1) Natural and Applied Sciences and Technology
and 2) Humanities and Social Sciences. The Natural
and Applied Science and Technology includes the
fields of Information Technology, Biotechnology,
Mechanics and Materials, Physics, Chemistry, Material
Engineering, and so on. The Humanities and Social
Sciences area involves Language, History, Philosophy,
Law, Administration, Politics, Economics, Education,
Psychology and others. The annual financial support
for each team project ranges from 800,000 dollars to 6
million dollars for the area of Natural and Applied
Sciences and Technology, and from 150,000 to
750,000 dollars for the area of Humanities and Social
Sciences.
b. Support for research infrastructure
Overall Objectives
The major objectives advocated by the BK 21
project are described as follows:
Fostering world-class research universities which function
as infrastructure in producing primary knowledge and
technology, and promoting specialization of local
universities;
Introducing professional graduate schools in order
Facilities Facilities related to education and research in
the graduate schools, such as Electronic
Libraries, laboratories, guesthouses, and
dormitories for married students will be
augmented.
Research Universities will be supported financially in
establishing relations with world leading
universities for International Exchange
100
Mugyeong Moon and Ki-Seok Kim
program or Collaborative Research program.
The financial support includes scholarships,
stipends for post-doctorate students and
faculties. A performance-based promotion
system is being introduced to ensure
competition among professors.
2) Plan to Nurture Regional Universities
3) Plan for Specialized Areas
Fostering highly professional human resources in the field
of newly emerging industry which has high added values
(i.e., Film, Animation, Design, Tele Communication, and
Foreign Language Translation) - About 4 million dollars in
5 years (1999 to 2003)
Focusing on establishing specialized graduate schools
4) Plan for Core Areas
Nurturing Regional Universities in order to meet the
needs of local industry - About 38 million dollars in
7 years (1999 to 2005)
Changing entrance models to higher education
institutions: Encouraging highly-qualified regional
high-school graduates to go to regional leading
undergraduate schools and World-class Graduate
Schools
a. Specialization of regional universities
Human Resource Training In order to meet the
needs of local industry, practical major
education will be strengthened and basic
vocational education on foreign language
and management of information will be
reinforced.
b. Support programs
Incentives Highly qualified high-school graduates,
who enter leading regional universities
will be provided with opportunities to
participate
in
overseas
language
programs. In order to facilitate the
regional university graduates’ advanced
study, world-class graduate schools have
50% of quarter for regional university
graduates.
Educational Environment The participating regional
universities have to hire more professors to
improve the student/faculty ratio. By forming
coalitions with local government and
companies, the universities will be able to
come up with a basis for further
development. Financial support for laboratory
and language labs will be provided to
professors.
Nurturing next generation scholars regarding academic
organizations at the department level of graduate schools
encompassing all subject areas and fields - About 20,000
to 150,000 dollars in 3 years (1999 to 2001)
Expected Outcomes
The expected outcomes of BK 21 project can be
summarized as follows:
1) The project will contribute to creating a sound
higher education environment in Korea, ultimately
exerting influences on reforming college entrance
systems.
2) Excellent human resources, nearly 1,300 individuals
with doctorate degrees in science and engineering,
will be produced every year as a result of the
project.
3) The project will dramatically enhance Korea's
R&D capabilities. International cooperation will be
strengthened with high quality overseas educational
institutions.
4) The project will facilitate cooperation among
members of the industry, academia and the
government.
5) Collaboration and cooperation among colleges and
universities will be encouraged.
Expanding International Cooperation for Implementing the BK
21 Project
The Korean universities and graduate schools selected
for the BK 21 project are now actively seeking ways to
improve themselves by benchmarking with a dozen
productive international educational institutions recognized
in their specialized areas. Additionally, efforts will be
made to forge international collaboration with institutions
overseas through co-operation in a number of programs.
Higher Education Reform
Beside the collaborative projects, university professors
and students who were selected under the project will
be given opportunities to pursue their professional
development at overseas universities of their choice on a
long-term (six months or more up to one year) or a
short-term (six months or less) basis.
The perceived value of the domestic academic degree
has markedly decreased even before the commencement
of the BK21 project. However, some graduate students
as well as faculty seem to prefer “domestic” academic
degrees to overseas ones. They still believe in the value
of either pre & post doctoral programs at the
academically renowned overseas graduate schools
though. They seem to want to combine a basic
training at home and an advanced training abroad.
There still remain a good number of major fields in
which students seek opportunities for overseas graduate
study, especially in natural sciences and engineering
fields.
Funding Sources
BK 21, as a government initiated project, with a
total projected budget of $1.2 billion for a period of
1999-2005, is made up of three major parts, as
follows:
Part I is to upgrade graduate education to attain
excellence in teaching and to promote local
universities. It focuses on three specific areas:
science & technology, humanities & social
science, and local universities. A total of $170
million will be invested annually for this
purpose.
Part II is to enhance the research capability of
graduate schools, with a total budget of $41
million to be invested.
Part III is to build infrastructure for academic
research and is to provide financial support to all
academic areas, with a particular emphasis on
basic disciplines. A total fund of $42 million is
reserved for this purpose. Funding for each task
area is to be provided through a rigorous
evaluation process of the applications submitted by
universities and colleges.
In order to match government’s funds, every unit of
BK21 projects at the selected university is expected to
raise funds from research foundations, industries, and
101
other private sectors.
!" # $ # As in any kind of reform, there is some ambivalence
toward BK 21 higher education reform in South Korea.
Controversies around BK 21 need to be carefully
examined for successful and effective reform.
BK21 is an unprecedented policy in terms of its
scale and planning. Past policies in higher education
finance have focused on the distributing of limited
resources fairly among all colleges and departments.
BK21 has changed the focus to efficiency of investment
rather than equality of opportunity in the distribution of
research funds. In addition, shifting the focus of higher
education from undergraduate to graduate education is
expected to mitigate the overheated competition for
entering top-tier universities.
On the other hand, there are concerns about the
possible negative impacts of the BK 21 project. Perhaps,
the strongest concern may be the issue of ‘selection and
concentration’ vs. a balanced development among
universities as well as among subject areas. If the
traditional top universities are selected and supported by
BK21, the principle of "selection and concentration" will
prevent most professors in nonselected colleges and
universities from getting their research funded. Rather,
BK21 may reinforce the traditional university pecking
order, which has long been perceived as an obstacle in
the
development
of
Korean
higher
education.
Furthermore, the governmental investment concentrated
on the given subject areas and specialized areas may be
detrimental to the balanced development of various
academic fields.
In order to maintain balanced development among
universities, the BK 21 project established a plan to
nurture regional universities to meet the needs of local
industry. Through providing incentives, the BK 21
project encourages highly qualified regional high school
graduates to enter the regional university and also
facilitates the regional university graduate students’
advanced study. Furthermore, while it focuses on special
subject areas, especially high-tech areas, the BK 21
project ensures funds for all subject areas and fields by
the core area plan.
102
Mugyeong Moon and Ki-Seok Kim
Closely related to the above concern, another concern
is seriously uneven distribution of graduate research
assistants. Some point out that only the universities
participating in the BK 21 project will have enough
funds to adequately support students and thus attract
qualified students to their program. Nonselected major
universities and regional universities will suffer a relative
lack of research facilities and financial support for
graduate students. Consequently, such universities are
likely to have insufficient numbers of graduate students,
which in turn, may weaken research activities to a
considerable extent.
Having insufficient finance and uneven distribution
can be an inherent constraint of any government-initiated
reform. The BK project is no exception. However, all
the participating universities are evaluated regarding their
performance in the process to make sure that the
selected ones make improvements. Based on annual
evaluations, whether they would continue to participate
in the BK project is decided.
Other concerns involve discriminatory financial
support for national vs. private universities, insufficient
support for basic academic fields, and aggravated college
entrance competition due to reduced undergraduate
student enrollment.
Although the BK 21 project gives a priority to
national universities, which are perceived to have ripple
effects of educational reform nationwide, there are 46
private universities selected among 71 universities which
applied for the BK 21 project. In addition, the Ministry
of Education and Human Resource Department sets a
policy and prepares special budgets to nurture basic
academic fields. Furthermore, the college entrance system
will be diversified and the selected graduate schools for
the BK 21 project need to have 50% of quarter for
graduates from other schools. Thus, college entrance
competition is expected to lessen.
The main sticking point of BK 21 may lie in the
potential for losing institutional autonomy. Criticizing
the overdependence on government funding, E.J. Lee
(2000), a Korean doctoral candidate at Boston College
doubts the success of the BK 21 project. Every selected
university must undertake educational reforms under the
direction of the Ministry of Education, such as reducing
the number of undergraduate students, hiring professors
for teaching graduate courses, improving the university
curriculum, and so on. According to E.J. Lee, this
government-controlled and development-oriented educational
reform will reduce the intellectual freedom and autonomy
of universities in the long run.
In order to protect academic autonomy and freedom,
there must be an agreement between universities and
governments (Wang, 2001). When the governments
sometimes cannot help interfering in university internal
affairs, intermediate organizations are needed to guard
academic autonomy, such as the American Council on
Education, The Association of American Universities, or
non-government
accreditation
associations.
These
intermediate organizations act as buffers in conflicts
between universities and governments as well as
maintaining university academic standards through
public and objective assessment. As Wang (2001)
pinpointed, academic autonomy can be relatively easily
obtained in Western countries, but not in some Asian
ones. Rather, universities are often expected to play a
powerful instrumental role in accomplishing national aims.
In this sense, the government needs to let some of its
power go in order to give more autonomy to universities.
However, universities should not and cannot neglect
social accountability. That is, universities must serve the
society and meet needs expressed by the government.
The best way to preserve academic autonomy through
self-governance is by way of outstanding performance.
The price of autonomy is eternal self-discipline (Altbach
et al., cited in Wang, 2001). Ultimately, academic
autonomy in Korean universities must be achieved by
outstanding performance based on constant self-discipline.
The intermediate organizations and laws can facilitate
and support universities on the way of self-discipline
and self-governance.
$ % &
In spite of the criticisms mentioned above, the
BK21 project has been fruitful in at least the
following three ways: 1) changes in university
atmospheres and improvements in research activities of
graduate schools, 2) attainments of the project goals,
and 3) progresses in the university system reform.
These accomplishments are based on the evaluation
conducted in August 2000 regarding the first year of
the BK 21 project below (Ministry of Education and
Human Resources Department, 2001).
Higher Education Reform
Improvements in Research Activities of Graduate Schools
and Changes in University Atmospheres
The number of articles by Korean scholars
published in SCI journals has increased at a rate
well above average. There was a worldwide
increase of just 1.9% for articles by scholars all
over the world. But after the inception of the
project, the number of articles by Korean scholars
increased by 15.6%.
Universities compete with one another in recruiting
highly qualified professors and adopt incentive systems
for professors who have quality journal publications.
Attainments of the Project Goals
Attainments of the project goals in specific are listed
in terms of increases in the number of articles published
103
in international journals, and in achieving international
and domestic patents, supporting graduate students,
employing next generation scholars, and implementing
programs for international cooperation.
As can be seen in Table 1 & 2, about 700 more
articles were published after the inception of BK 21 in
international journals in the field of Natural/Applied
Science and Technology. Acquisitions of both
international and domestic patents also increased up to
almost 30%.
As can be seen in Table 3, 4 & 5, the graduate
students and individuals with doctoral degrees in the
field of science/technology are the major target recipients
of university support regarding their study and research
at home and abroad. While regional universities are
relatively on high standings in support for graduate
students and in implementing programs for international
cooperation, specialized areas seem to provide much
more support for the next generation of scholars than
Table 1. Increases in the Number of Articles published in International Journals
Number of Published Articles
Subject Areas
Before BK 21
After BK 21
Natural/Applied Sciences and Technology
3,842
4,545
Humanities and Social Sciences
47
47
Table 2. Increases in Achieving International and Domestic Patents
(Applied Sciences and Technology, and Specialized Areas)
Number of Acquired Patents
Patents
Before
After
International
116.6
160
Domestic
29
41
Tables 3. Support for Graduate Students
Science / Tech
Regional
Univ.
Human/Social
Sc
Mater
4,650
1,542
542
Doctorate
3,222
453
244
Specialized
Area
Total
830
7,564
*(frequency/number of people)
Total of 107 students for long-term overseas studies and 4,406 students for short-term overseas studies.
121
4,040
104
Mugyeong Moon and Ki-Seok Kim
Tables 4. Employing Next Generation Scholars
Science / Tech
Regional
Univ.
Human/Social
Sc
Specialized
Area
Total
Post-doc
390
3
88
74
555
Contract Prof.
133
79
29
83
324
Tables 5. Implementing programs for international cooperation (Overseas studies)
Science / Tech
Regional
Univ.
Human/Social
Sc
Specialized
Area
Long-term Overseas studies
57/63
17/25
5/6
6/13
Short-term Overseas studies
674/2,048
124/1,625
39/176
111/557
Total of 107 students for long-term overseas studies and 4,406 studies for short-term overseas studies.
Table 6. Indicators of SNU Developmental Plan for the Year 2005
Indicators
No. of
Std
No. of
Prof
1999
2001
2005
Undergrad.
21,000
22,953
Graduate
Ratio of
Under/ Grad
Prof
Ratio of
Std/Prof
8,700
Comparison w/ Univ.
Harvard
Michigan
Wisconsin
15,000
6,704
24,493
29,301
9,331
10,000
10,901
10,226
8,620
2.41
2.46
1.1
0.61
2.39
3.40
1,485
1,625
2,000
2,300
2,633
2,945
20 : 1
19.9
12.5 : 1
7.7 : 1
13.2 : 1
12.9 : 1
regional universities and human/social science areas.
Progresses in University System Reform.
1) Each university has been developing a new college
entrance system for the year 2002.
2) A plan for reducing the number of undergraduate
students has been made (415 students in 2000 &
658 students in 2001 have been reduced).
3) Graduate
schools
admit
graduates
from
undergraduate programs of other schools (45% in
the subject area of Sciences and Technology &
57% in that of Humanities and Social Sciences).
4) Universities have adopted a performance-based
promotion system in order to ensure academic
competition among professors.
As summarized above, the BK 21 project has been
making noticeable progress in the subject areas,
specialized areas, and regional universities. If the BK 21
project is continuously implemented in accordance with
its objectives and plans, the academic innovation at the
university level will be facilitated effectively.
Looking at a representative university participating in
the BK 21 project can provide a more specific idea of
where the higher education reform through BK 21 is
going. Seoul National University (SNU), one of the
leading universities in South Korea, envisions its future as
a world-class comprehensive research-oriented university. It
pursues frontier knowledge, by higher standards of
education, by promoting excellence in research, and by
serving the society.
In order to transform SNU into a world-class
university, SNU tries to benchmark the academic
systems, strategies, and infrastructures of world-leading
universities. SNU strives for being within the top 40
universities in the world by 2010. SNU reform focuses
on the entrance exam policy, the undergraduate programs,
the university governance, teaching and research
Higher Education Reform
competence, recruitment of highly qualified professors,
and finally, the long-term development planning of SNU.
Some indicators of the development for the goals of
2005 are listed below.
In the processes of building a world-class university,
SNU emphasizes international cooperation for establishing
or upgrading research and education capabilities of
institutions. Thus, it is worth mentioning the Institute of
Asia Pacific Education Development (iAPED) at SNU.
As a participant of the BK project in the area of
Humanities and Social Sciences, iAPED consists of
research teams from the Department of Education and
the Department of National Ethics Education. As the
name of the institute implies, iAPED deals with
international education affairs, especially in the Asia
Pacific region. The mission of iAPED is to foster Asian
education specialists and this mission is carried out by
academic exchanges and cooperation with other Asian
educational societies.
Building a world-class university has been a
long-held desire of South Korea. The BK 21 project is
a national endeavor of innovating universities to cultivate
high-powered and creative Korean human resources for a
knowledge-based society in the 21st century. From the
beginning, the project has drawn considerable attention
from higher education institutions as well as from
various social sectors. It has been creating the
intellectual atmospheres of universities and producing
noticeable academic outcomes. Taking the BK project as
an impetus for higher education reform, universities in
South Korea should make a long-term effort rather than a
one-shot endeavor towards their innovation. In the process,
105
the universities need to have the understanding and support
from the government and society.
Altbach, P. (2000). Asia’s academic aspirations: Some
problems, International Higher Education, 19, 7-8.
Lee, E.J. (2000). Brain Korea 21: A developmentoriented national policy in Korean Higher education,
International Higher Education, 19, 24-25.
Kim, K.S. (2000). A national report form Republic of
Korea. A paper presented at Hawaii East-West
Center Workshop, June 5, 2000, Hawaii, The United
States.
Ministry of Education & Human Resources Development
(2001). Brain Korea 21 project: An outcome report,
Seoul, Korea.
Wang, Y. (2001). Building the world-top university in a
developing country: Universals, uniqueness, and
Cooperation. Keynote speech given at the International
Conference on Education Research, Institute of Asia
Pacific Education Development, October 25-26, 2001,
Seoul, Korea.
http:// www.nso.go.kr
Received October 15, 2001
Revision received November 6, 2001
Accepted November 29, 2001