Poor Rankings

Universities Must Improve International Competitiveness

South Koreans are famous for their zeal for education that has been a driving force behind the nation's brilliant economic achievement. However, the country lags far behind when it comes to education quality and competitiveness. This means that Korea cannot take a second leap forward to realize its dream of joining the ranks of advanced countries without upgrading its education policy.

It is disappointing that only two local higher learning institutes were included in the list of the world's 200 universities released by The Times Higher Education Supplement (THES). The two are Seoul National University (SNU) and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). SNU took 51st place this year, up 12 notches from 63rd last year, while KAIST ranked 132nd, up from 198.

The ranking shows that the nation has no world-class top-notch university although many local schools have promised to turn themselves into global institutions. In the end, their promises have proved to be a failure. Of course, it is quite difficult for Korean universities to join the world's top ranks in a short period of time. But, they have to admit that they have been long on words but short on action to transform themselves into global institutions.

U.S. and U.K. universities dominated the list that included 57 American and 32 British schools. Eleven Japanese universities and six Chinese schools were also in the table. Even three institutions from Hong Kong and two from Singapore are among the world's 200 best universities. Tokyo University, placed at No. 12, has become the highest-ranked institution in Asia, followed by Beijing University at No. 17. Korea has shown poor rankings compared with its Asian rivals.

We cannot deny that the level of university education in the country has failed to meet international standards, while pushing for expansion in quantity not quality. Korea's spending on private education accounted for 2.9 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP), the highest among states belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The figure is four times higher than the OECD average. But it is regrettable that the nation's education competitiveness remains at such a low level.

South Korea is the world's 12th-largest trading nation and 13th-largest economy. But it cannot maintain its status without improving its education quality and sharpening the competitive edge of higher learning and research institutions. Local universities and research institutes have often been mired in scandals such as plagiarism, data manipulation, faculty recruitment irregularities and other wrongdoings.

Before the Dec. 19 presidential elections, candidates of the governing and opposition camps are making a set of education reform pledges. Both Lee Myung-bak of the opposition Grand National Party (GNP) and Chung Dong-young of the pro-government United New Democratic Party (UNDP) have promised to increase the nation's education budget to 6 percent of GDP. Whoever becomes the next president, the nation will have to launch education reform to cultivate creative human resources and thereby raise the nation's international competitiveness.