Education Reform
Next Government to Promote Autonomy, Decentralization
President-elect Lee Myung-bak's transition team has outlined education reform that is badly needed to sharpen the nation's competitiveness. The next government is expected to focus on autonomy and decentralization of education. The direction of the reform is apparently designed to cultivate creative human resources in a knowledge-based information society.
On Wednesday, the transition team said the next administration will give colleges greater autonomy in the selection of new students. The plan will end the country's decade-old government control on universities admissions policies, paving the way for improving their international competitiveness. For this, the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development plans to transfer its college admission affairs to the Korean Council for University Education, a non-governmental group of college presidents.
The plan means that universities will be allowed to set their own admission guidelines without government intervention. Colleges have repeatedly called for an easing of government control on their student selection process and their operations. The transition team said the incoming administration will also delegate much of the policy-making authority related to primary, middle and high school education to regional education offices.
Lee's education reform is based on the thinking that more than 30 years of ``standardization'' education can no longer be tenable in the 21st century. The standardization policy had produced successful results in the mass production and mass consumption society in the 1970s-80s. But it has increasingly lost ground since the 1990s, because it has led to a decline in students' scholastic performance. However, the Roh Moo-hyun government has stuck to the outdated policy under the name of left-leaning ``egalitarian'' education. Lee's reform marks the reversal of his predecessor's policy. Lee, who served as Seoul mayor and CEO of Hyundai Engineering and Construction, is seen as an advocate of the market economy and elite education.
The next government also plans to overhaul the state-administered College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) to help ease the fierce competition for college entrance. It will push for a three-stage plan to allow colleges to set their own admission guidelines, cut the number of test subjects, and give full freedom to universities in selecting new students. However, such measures are not enough to normalize the dilapidated school education and cultivate human resources with creative thinking.
South Korea has still a long way to go to realize education reform. Despite soaring spending on private tutoring, the quality of education shows little sign of improving. Only two local universities are on the list of the world's top 200 universities released by The Times Higher Education Supplement (THES). Against this backdrop, it is imperative to introduce a new paradigm to improve education quality and then hone the nation's competitiveness.
More autonomy and decentralization will require universities and other schools to take more responsibility. They should go all-out to regenerate themselves as real higher learning institutes to foster creative human resources. There is no doubt that much of the nation's future depends on education.