POSTECH president urges Korean universities to 'wake up'

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Thu, April 26, 2018 | 15:00

Education

POSTECH president urges Korean universities to 'wake up'

Posted : 2017-12-04 16:42

Updated : 2017-12-04 18:50

By Ko Dong-hwan

POSTECH President Kim Doh-yeon / Korea Times file

The head of one of South Korea's most prestigious universities has warned Korean universities of their demise as early as 2018 unless they wake up and break free from the chains of hackneyed educational methods used for decades.

Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) President Kim Doh-yeon told Maeil Business Newspaper, "If Korean universities keep heading their traditional ways, those that will see cherry blossoms blooming earlier will go bankrupt sooner."

Cherry blossoms bloom first in southern South Korean regions that are furthest from Seoul. POSTECH, in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, is in the area. Kim's warning includes not only his university but also small-to-medium-sized institutions in the countryside, most of which are in a poor financial state.

"Students still learn courses with the same titles in the same learning methods from 40 years ago," Kim said. "Innovation being their only way to survive, universities must transform themselves completely from their status quo."

Pointing out that there would be a drastic reduction in the number of students in 2018 due to the aging population, he said South Korea would have 10,000 fewer students than existing universities could afford. "At this pace, half of South Korean universities should be shut down in seven to eight years," he said.

He said one reason for stagnant innovation among South Korean universities was their volatile financial status, because they mostly depended on tuition fees. Universities in this predicament are mostly private institutions that make up 75 percent of Korean universities.

"The lesser the schools' funds are, the lesser quality of education the students get," Kim said.

aoshima11@ktimes.com