Education Minister Lee Ju-ho announces a package of steps to ease the heavy burden of college tuition on households at the Government Complex in Seoul Thursday. The government seeks to cut tuition from the current levels by 30 percent by 2014. / Korea Times

By Na Jeong-ju

Korea ranked second among 34 OECD member nations in terms of the ratio of public education spending to the gross domestic product, according to the organization’s 2011 edition of Education at a Glance, released Tuesday.

The country spent 7.6 percent of GDP on public education ― 4.7 percent by the government and 2.8 percent by the private sector ― in 2009, much higher than the OECD average of 5.9 percent, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said, citing the OECD data. Iceland came first at 7.9 percent.

“The spending by the private sector on public education was the highest among OECD countries for the 11th consecutive year, indicating that Korean parents rely heavily on private tutoring for children’s education,” a ministry official said.

The annual survey was conducted on 42 countries ― 34 OECD countries plus eight non-member nations ― based on 2009 statistics.

In terms of per capita tuition needed to study at state-run and public universities and graduate schools, Korea ranked second at $5,315, followed by the United States at $6,312.

The yearly average tuition at the country’s private universities and graduate schools was at $9,586, higher than the OECD average. The figures were based on purchasing power parity (PPP), the conversion index used to compare price levels for different countries.

The survey is expected to provide a fresh leverage for the government to press ahead with its campaign to cut university tuition.

Last week, the government and the ruling Grand National Party agreed to set aside 1.5 trillion won ($1.3 billion) in next year’s budget to ease the heavy college tuition burden on households. The country is seeking to effectively cut tuition by 30 percent from the current levels by 2014.

According to the OECD survey, the ratio of scholarships to tuition at Korean schools was 6 percent, which was much lower than the OECD average of 11.4 percent. This means Korean colleges charge higher tuition fees, but pay less for scholarships than those in other rich countries.

In the category of higher education, the rate of finishing high school was 80 percent, higher than the OECD average of 73 percent.

Among the younger demographic group of from 25 to 34-year-olds, 98 percent of students finished high school and 63 percent of them went on to higher education, both of them topping the OECD rankings.

Students from foreign countries accounted for 1.6 percent of total students at higher educational institutions, much lower than the OECD average of 8.5 percent.

However, Korea has recorded the highest increase in the rate of foreign students for the past decade as schools have adopted aggressive globalization programs, according to the Education Ministry.

The number of students per teacher has been declining but still remains far higher than the OECD average. The number of students per teacher came in at 22.5 for elementary schools, 19.9 for middle schools and 16.7 for high schools, 3.2-6.5 higher than the OECD average.