The Socioeconomic Effects of the Expansion of Higher Education in Korea
Ahn Kook Kim, Eon Lim, Ji Hee Choi, Han Gu Ryu, Ki Hun Kim
This study analyzes the socioeconomic effects of the expansion of higher education in Korea.
Korean society witnessed the rapid expansion of higher education from the 1980's onwards. This study focuses on the economic, social, and educational effects of the expansion of higher education.
While the effect of the expansion of higher education on Korean society has been widespread, the present study focuses only on the economic, social, and educational effects.
In terms of economic effect, the expansion of higher education has raised the level of human capital stock. The calculation of the human capital stock from 1980 to 2009 conducted herein shows average annual growth rates of 1.51% for the 1980s, 1.02% for the 1990s, and 0.95% for the 2000s. This can be construed to mean that the rapid expansion of higher education has to some extent helped to facilitate the accumulation of human capital.
The expansion of higher education has contributed to economic development in Korea. Using a growth account model, this study shows that the school year symbolized by the accumulation of human capital stock affected industrial growth by a 0.1 ~ 0.22 coefficient. The coefficient of the school year variable was not significant in the 1980s, but expanded greatly in the 1990s before decreasing a little in the 2000s.
In Korea, the earnings differential between high school and university graduates spurred the people to pursue a higher education. Wage differentials between high school and university graduates have expanded in the 2000s. Meanwhile, the difference in asset wealth between high school and university graduates is even larger than wages. These asset wealth differentials have been affected by the changes in real estate prices, and the more real estate goes up the larger these differentials become. The more higher education expands, the larger the variation in income
distribution becomes. These facts tell us that the educational payment differential is so clear and definite in Korea that students will inevitably favor higher education.
Higher education is expected to affect social capital at both the individual and societal levels.
This thesis has not been dealt with until now. This study analyses the relationship between the expansion of higher education and the accumulation of aspects of social capital such as trust, voting, political concerns, social networks, social services, health, and satisfaction with life. The results of this analysis show that while individual achievement of higher education in Korea has a correlation only with trust, in Europe, individual achievement of higher education is correlated with trust, political concerns, social service, health, and satisfaction with life. Individual higher education does not correlate with voting or social networks in both Korea and Europe.
More people generally get access to higher education as the latter expands. However, the members of the higher classes have tended to achieve a much higher level of education than those of the lower classes, thus hinting at the fact that a hierarchy of institutions related to higher education has not only taken root, but become entrenched.
The expansion of higher education in Korea has not resulted in changes in the hierarchy measured by 'study ability examination scores,' rather the latter has become more firmly entrenched.
University students in Korea can secure a diploma without great difficulty, and the quality of education at the university level cannot be guaranteed. As such, the university diploma does not work as a signal of ability in the labor market. When the university hierarchy, university ranking, or branding is the only signal used in the labor market, the university ranking becomes stabilized again. However, the university ranking doesn't have anything to do with the quality of education.
This is a serious problem. There are also many problems related to this. These include excess competition, the spread of private studies, the loss of education for the whole man, and the uniformity of higher education institutes.
In conclusion, the expansion of higher education has had both a good and bad effect on Korean society. While the beneficial effects have mainly been economic, like the accumulation of human capital and industrial development, the negative impact has mostly been felt from a social and educational standpoint. The expansion of higher education has not resulted in an increase in social capital, a denouement that has resulted in civil society failing to keep pace with the economic development level. Education has been plagued by many side effects associated with the expansion of higher education. As such, the reform of education policy represents the most important and vital aspect of Korea's future development.
