Worries about Korean higher education overblown
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Oxford University Vice Chancellor Andrew Hamilton, third from left, and other key guests pose for a photo during a founding ceremony for the Oxbridge Society Korea at the Grand Ambassador Hotel in Seoul, Tuesday. From left are Andrew Dalgleish, deputy head of mission of the British Embassy in Seoul; lawyer Kim Dong-gun; Hamilton; Park Jin, president of the Korea-Britain Society; Chung Mong-gyu, chairman of the Hyundai Development Company; and Martin Fryer, director of the British Council Seoul. / Korea Times
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Professor Andrew Hamilton, vice chancellor of the University of Oxford, was optimistic about the competitiveness of Korean higher education, considering Korean universities’ upward march in recent international university rankings.
“Korean universities are relatively young,” the British chemist said during an interview with The Korea Times on Tuesday at the Grand Ambassador Hotel in Seoul. “If you look at rankings of universities that are younger than 50 years old, you will find Korean universities doing well.”
Hamilton noted that the world’s top-ranked universities were much older than their Korean counterparts and that compared with other social institutions, universities tended to grow relatively slowly.
“I think one has to be very careful (when evaluating the competitiveness of universities),” he said. “Oxford is nearly 900 years old and Harvard is 350 years old. And they have had, at least for the last couple of centuries, reasonably stable environments in which to develop.”
This year’s world university rankings, announced in March by the Times Higher Education, showed that Seoul National University ranked No. 44, having climbed 15 spots from the previous year. Six other Korean universities made the world top-400 list.
The California Institute of Technology topped the list, followed by Harvard and Oxford. The University of Tokyo came in 23rd.
World university rankings consistently reveal a wide gap between the success of Korean secondary education and its post-secondary education. Korean students, along with other Asian students as well as Finnish students, have done extremely well in the Program for International Student Assessment administered by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Hamilton praised the performance of Korean universities in recent years.
“I see in Seoul National University, in Yonsei and in other leading universities in Korea great progress being made, great strength in science and technology and indeed in humanities,” he said. “So I have every confidence that Korean universities will have their upward march. Patience is an important factor when you are developing universities.”
The British chemist said that he was optimistic about Korean higher education partly because of smart secondary school students who made their counterparts in foreign nations jealous.
“Let me tell you the envy of all countries, particularly the United States and the United Kingdom as they go through periodic internal spasms of self-criticism when relative performance of secondary school students is compared to Korea and other Asian countries.”
Hamilton arrived in Seoul on Tuesday for a four-day visit to bolster ties between Oxford and Korea.
Oxbridge Society
Korea has over 500 Oxford alumni and 160 Korean students are now studying at the university.
The interview took place an hour before the Korean alumni of the University of Oxford and the Cambridge University officially launched the joint alumni society, dubbed the Oxbridge Society of Korea, at the hotel.
Hamilton noted that he was probably the most appropriate person for an event like this because he is the Cambridge graduate-turned-Oxford vice chancellor.
During the keynote speech, Park Jin, professor of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies and president of the Oxford University Alumni Society of Korea, said the two sides agreed to merge the alumni associations for the future of the nation.
Park, a former lawmaker, said the graduates of the two prestigious schools felt a sense of responsibility to contribute to the country at a time when it has undergone a transformation following the implementation of the free trade agreements with the United States and European Union. Korea is now working on another free trade pact with China.
Once the deal is done, Park said, Korea will be the only country with the free trade agreement with the world’s three major economies.
“The founding of the Oxbridge Society is a meaningful development in this regard,” he said.
Andrew Dalgleish, deputy head of mission of the British Embassy in Seoul, vowed to support the alumni society so that it can play a role in facilitating bilateral relations.
Chung Mong-gyu, chairman of the Hyundai Development Company, Kim Dong-gun, a lawyer and president of Cambridge Society of Korea, and tens of other graduates participated in the ceremony to celebrate the merger of the two alumni groups.