By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
High school students will be asked to take an English ability test from 2013 and submit their scores for college admissions, said the chairwoman of the presidential transition team Tuesday.
The measure is part of a three-stage plan to phase out the regulatory measures regarding university authorities' selecting their students.
Transition Team Chairwoman Lee Kyung-sook told a press conference in Seoul that the alternative language ability test will replace the English test, which is part of the current college scholastic ability test.
The English ability test to be introduced in 2013 is a requirement for all high school students who prepare for college admissions and they can submit the highest score they obtained in the tests which will take place three or four times a year.
Lee explained that the current language test in the college scholastic ability test revealed limitations as those who achieved high scores in the language test could not speak English properly.
The team members shared the need to change the test dramatically to improve students' English speaking skill.
She said that the transition team is working on the details of the ability test and the specific elements of the test will be announced later.
With the adoption of the plan, the current score ranking system, which classifies the students' academic ability from level 1 through 9 based on the scores each student earned in the college scholastic ability test, will be replaced by the new ranking system.
The transition team said the newly introduced system will include score and percentile ranking of students, along with each student's achievement level.
According to the plan, the education ministry will phase out its intervention in selecting university students from next year.
Lee said that the ultimate goal of the plan is to give the universities complete autonomy in selecting their students from 2013.
Lee said the incoming government will revise the relevant law by May to transfer the right to make the basic plan for the college scholastic ability test for university admissions to the Council for University Education (CUE) from the education ministry.
As a result, universities will be allowed to decide the specific ratios of high school grade point averages (GPA) and the score of the college scholastic ability test on their own from next year.
The education ministry set the guidelines advising universities to take into account 50 percent of high school GPAs when they select students.
Universities disagreed with the policy claiming that the guidelines undermined their autonomy. The ministry and the universities are divided regarding the policy.
Pointing out that many universities did not follow the guidelines, Rep. Lee Ju-ho of the Grand National Party said the new plan will not cause confusion to students and parents.