Universities face tough times. They are struggling to balance a fine line between academic idealism and market demand.
Korea's six-year experimentation with the American-style medical school system went nowhere. Law schools may face the same fate.
The Education Ministry has acknowledged the de facto failure of the medical-school system here and allowed universities to decide whether or not to discontinue it. Twenty-seven medical schools will be allowed a grace period of five to seven years whether to shut down or not. About half of them are to close. Medical schools will have the discretion to morph into medical colleges.
The program did not work as policymakers had intended, namely to recruit doctor-hopefuls from diverse college and academic backgrounds. Policymakers introduced the system also to keep as many talented students as possible in engineering and science. However, many of them are neglecting their core studies for the medical examinations. Private tutoring became commonplace. This also burdens parents. In addition, tuition was twice as expensive in medical schools than in medical colleges. Six years are required for medical college students but eight years, including a four-year college tenure, for completing medical schools.
Law schools may repeat the same side effects. Many liberal-science students are crazy about enrolling in law schools. Private law schools face financial difficulty as the quota is too small. Law schools are competing with colleges of law. In a few years, law schools may apply to shutdown. When law-school graduates underperform in bar examinations, closure will be inevitable. This is the case in Japan.
The objective of the law-school system, introduced in 2007, was to produce well-rounded and experienced lawyers from diverse academic backgrounds. Currently state examinations for lawyers emphasize rote memorization. Law schools are not open to foreigners.
In a nutshell, universities today are disoriented as medical and law school hopefuls are too crowded. Students are mongering for licenses, including certified public accountants (CPAs).
This originates from the dismal job market situation. Doctors and lawyers are the most promising professions. Many other students defer graduation until they get the jobs they want. Professors have no choice but to gear their lectures toward helping students get decent jobs. The campus is now becoming a training center for job-seekers. It is difficult to say the campus is an ivory tower.
Most miserable are the humanities majors. They rarely get decent jobs. This is understandable but social negligence of such basic human sciences will be of no help to the country. No country can claim to be an advanced country when academics in humanities are not flourishing. This is the area where government intervention and adjustments are required. Education policymakers also face a dilemma as the market reacts in a way that is different from what they have proposed. Domestically, education policymakers are always a target of criticism. Nevertheless, foreign leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama, lauds Korea's education zeal as a key factor behind its success.