<Junior Colleges at the Tertiary Level>
Korean tertiary education is largely composed of universities and junior colleges. In Korea, tertiary education has experienced rapid growth over the last decade. It continues to experience new pressures due to the globalization of the economy and labor market. Since 2000, the number of four year universities has increased. However, the number of junior colleges has gradually been decreasing since 2005. Over this period, the number of students in junior colleges has been shrinking due to Korea’ s low birth rate that has dwindled the school age population, which has been accompanied by the growing preference for academically oriented tertiary schools.
Table 3.1 Institutions and Student/Faculty Ratio
(Unit: Number, %)
Year
University Junior College
Institution Student/Faculty Institution Student/Faculty Public Privat
e Public Private Public Private Public Private
2001 26 136 23.5 29.2 15 143 34.6 52.5
2002 26 137 23.4 29.0 16 143 33.1 50.8
2003 26 143 23.4 29.3 16 142 32.1 48.4
2004 26 145 22.4 28.6 15 143 31.9 47.4
2005 26 147 21.2 27.3 14 144 32.9 44.7
2006 25 150 20.7 26.4 13 139 33.7 45.1
2007 25 150 20.7 26.5 11 137 35.4 44.9
2008 25 149 20.5 25.8 10 137 35.1 41.9
2009 26 151 21.8 25.9 10 136 33.0 39.5
2010 27 152 21.4 26.0 9 136 34.7 39.5
Note: Student/Faculty = (Includes registered students except students on temporary leave from school / full-time faculty.)*100
Source: MEST, Statistical Yearbook of Education, various years.
The student to faculty ratio in junior colleges was also very high until the early 2000s. As we can be seen in Table 3.2, the fixed number of faculty in junior colleges totaled 23,043 in 2010, with 428 professors in public colleges and 22,615 professors in private colleges. The faculty retention rate was 53.8%, with 53.5% in private institutions and 69.2% in public institutions.5 The number of faculties in private 5 The fixed number of faculty is prescribed by Higher Education Act. By this Act, the fixed number of faculty includes four types such as a professor, an associate professor, an assistant professor, and a full-time lecturer. Therefore, the retention rate of faculty is calculated by the fixed number of faculty
colleges was fewer than public colleges. Also, there was two times more part-time faculty than full-time in public colleges. In Korea, the faculty structure in junior colleges is very weak in relation to the quality of post-secondary vocational education and training. However, the student to faculty ratio has been decreasing since 2000 due to the low birth rate that has led to the falling number of students and schools.
Table 3.2 Statues of Faculty in Junior College
(Unit: person, %) Fixed Number of Faculty Number of Faculty Retention Rate of Faculty
Full-time Part-time
Public 428 296 683 69.2
Privat e
22,615 12,090 29,468 53.5
Total 23,043 12,386 23,412 53.8
Source: MEST, Statistical Yearbook of Education, 2010.
Although the number of institutions has been decreasing recently, the size of Korea’s tertiary education has been rapidly growing since 1980 driven by growing demand for higher education. Indeed, there has been a large increase in the number of private universities. During this time, the number of students has also increased while the number of professors or instructors has not increased as fast as the number of students, which has increased the student to faculty ratio. The high student to faculty ratio has been greater in junior colleges compared to universities while the ratio has been more pronounced in private universities compared to public universities. The quality of education offered by private universities and junior colleges has been inadequate.
The growth in tertiary education has been followed by a growth in the fields of natural sciences and engineering during the 1980s. After 2000, the number of students studying in these fields began to decline, essentially because students that had studied these fields had lower grades than previous students. In 1980, the number of students in universities totaled 392,926. By 2010, the total had grown to 2,028,842, an increase of about 5.2 times. The number of students at junior colleges also increased at about 4.6 times from 164,419 in 1980 to 763,599 in 2010. Over the same period, the number of students studying natural sciences and engineering increased steadily until 2000 when it started to decrease. The student age population has also become smaller while demand for tertiary education has grown, which has impacted the labour supply. However, the number of students studying humanities and social sciences in universities has been continuously increasing. Since 2000, the decrease in the total number of students in junior colleges was due to the fast decrease in the number of students studying natural
and the number of full-time faculty members.
science and engineering. Though the role of junior colleges in educating technicians and engineers for manufacturing industry has decreased since the mid 2000s, it has played a larger role in producing workers for the service industries.
Figure 3.1 Number of Students in Tertiary Education
Note: the number of students means the registered students (contained students of temporary leaver form school)
Source: MEST, Statistical Yearbook of Education, various years.
More recently, the number of students enrolling in tertiary education has sharply decreased due to Korea’s low birth rate. This will mean that many universities or junior colleges will not be able to meet their admissions targets. On top of this, many of Korea’s academically inclined students want to enroll in four- year universities in Seoul; therefore, universities in rural or provincial regions will likely face additional pressure to meet admissions targets. The falling enrollment rate in junior colleges and universities in rural or provincial regions has resulted in a shortage of highly qualified workers in rural and provincial regions, further hurting their prospects for development.
In addition, a high proportion of students, or over 30% of total students, tends to take a temporary leave of absence from school. Moreover, a greater share of
students who take time off from school has been in junior college. The share of junior college students taking time off has been about 35%, while about 31% in universities. The high number of students taking time off from school can be contributed to male students completing compulsory military service and to students enrolled in junior colleges or provincial universities studying to retake the college-entrance exam to enroll in a top university. In Korea, there is great societal pressure to get an education at a top or prestigious academic institution.
Figure 3.2 Ratio of Students Taking Temporary Leave of Absence
Source: MEST, Statistical Yearbook of Education, various years
As the number of higher education institutions expanded, many junior colleges were granted the status of universities, going from two year programs to four year programs. Recently, the deans of junior colleges also changed their titles to
“presidents” as commonly found in universities while the school’s name remained unchanged. This has been in part because of the Korean social dogma that an elite education can only be acquired from academically driven schools. The most sought out universities are located in Seoul, including those that have changed their names. Moreover, top scholars are believed to have graduated from top universities, leading to the term “academic exclusivity.” Koreans have come to associate higher education with a top academic school.
<Polytechnics>
Korean polytechnic colleges are a group of post-secondary institutions that are publicly funded. Korean polytechnic schools are specially designed by the government to raise the level of technical competency. Polytechnic colleges consist of seven regional colleges (or regional hub colleges) and four specialized colleges. With each regional college having two to eight campuses, the total number of polytechnic campuses is 43. In March 2006, the government consolidated 23 polytechnic schools and 21 public vocational training institutions, which had been responsible for public training, into the Korean Polytechnic College. The aim was to create institutions with sufficient size and capacity to serve as regional hubs for vocational education and training, and to better manage these institutions.
Polytechnics have about 15,000 students. In 2010, the number of new students enrolled in the associate degree programmes was 8,188. The number of students enrolled in a specialty trade course was 6,273. This accounts for only about 0.4% of the total number of students in tertiary education, and about 2.0% of the total number of junior college students.
Table 3.3 Number of New Students in Polytechnics (Unit: person)
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Associate degree program 10,252 8,821 8,253 7,967 8,188 Craftsman training program 5,955 6,267 6,314 6,206 6,273 Source: The Body Corporate of Polytechnic, Internal Document.
On the other hand, the number of instructors was 1,195 in 2010. The student to faculty ratio was 12.6. This is lower than the ratio found in universities and junior colleges. Thus, we can expect that the quality of education and training in polytechnic is better than that of universities and junior colleges. In reality, the rate of employment for polytechnic graduates is higher than the rate for universities and junior colleges.
Table 3.4 Present State of Staff and Instructors Faculty
(professor)
Teacher (trainer)
Staff Others Total
Number 1,195 121 390 33 1,739
Source: The Body Corporate of Polytechnic, Internal Document.
Polytechnic schools provide a wide range of training programs for the development of lifelong skills for various groups of people. Their skills development course is divided into two types: two-year associate degree and six-month to one-year programmes for craftsmen and master craftsmen. The two-year and one-year programmes are considered as post-secondary VET, while most of the other
programmes are considered vocational training for employed workers, unemployed workers, retired military servicemen, housewives, North Korean defectors, or people in need of skills development within a short period. Also, polytechnic colleges provide off-campus training and long distance learning programs for residents of remote villages in mountains and islands. However, these programs are all short-term programmes under one-year.